Focus on Arts and Ecology

Jon, did you know that there are not two but three poles? You'll be familiar with the north and south pole, but the region encompassing the Hindu Kush Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau is considered the third pole. This is because the ice fields here play a vital role in regulating climate systems.

The three poles are home to iconic species including polar bears, penguins and snow leopards, but their habitats are under threat. These crucial regions are warming three times faster than the global average with devastating consequences for people, wildlife and our one shared home.

 

PUSHED TO THE EDGE

As parts of the high Himalayas warm, people are able to grow crops and graze livestock at higher altitudes overlapping crucial snow leopard habitats. Already squeezed into smaller, more fragmented areas, snow leopards could be pushed to the very edges of their world, with nowhere left to go.

PROTECT THE SNOW LEOPARDS

 

LEFT STRANDED

Polar bears use sea ice as a platform from which to hunt seals and reach their denning sites. But declining summer sea ice is leaving many bears stranded and at risk of starving on land. When this happens, the hungry bears are more likely to look for food in nearby communities, increasing the risk of conflict with local people.

PROTECT THE POLAR BEARS

 

LOSING FOOD

Krill is a vital food source for Adélie penguins and many other Antarctic species, including the magnificent blue whale. As the Southern Ocean warms, sea ice the krill need to feed and breed under disappears; this has led to a dramatic decline in krill populations in the past 40-50 years.

PROTECT THE penguins