Which animals will survive this climate change?

Talks this week in Norway on the 1973 polar bear treaty have ended with all signatory countries (including Canada) concurring that melting sea ice is now the biggest single threat to the future survival of polar bears.

The struggling polar bear has long been the iconic symbol to the effects that climate change is wreaking to habitats and species currently. It is certainly a huge step forward for Canada, as the document commits Canada to taking the polar bear habitat into account when considering industrial and resource projects in the North, affecting possibly energy development in the Arctic.

However, Canada still lags behind many other countries in carbon-cutting measures which would ultimately solve the problem at its roots, rather than increased legislation in hunting measures or industrial development.

Canada was also accused this week in Norway of being reluctant to sign onto the agreement, though Environment Minister Jim Prentice disagree.

"I don't think anyone disagrees the whole process of climate change has implications for polar bears," Prentice told the Winnipeg Free Press. "What those implications are is still under scientific investigation. It could be positive, it could be negative."

Canada has roughly 60% of the 20-25,000 polar bears still in existence around the world. Projections by Climate Change and Species report commissioned by WWF and Earth Hour indicate the polar bears may be extinct before the end of the century due to rising sea levels and melting ice caps.