IQALUIT - Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. has set up a hotline to gather information on polar bears and climate change, which will be presented to the Convention on International Trade on Endangered Species (CITES) meeting in Qatar in March 2010.

Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. wildlife advisor Paul Irngaut answers a call on Nunavut's Polar Bear Hotline in Iqaluit on Dec. 15. The hotline has been set up to gather Inuit knowledge on polar bears and climate change. - Kassina Ryder/NNSL photo

"For so long we've been hearing the issues on climate change and polar bears from the scientific world and we haven't really heard anything from the Inuit perspective," NTI's wildlife advisor Paul Irngaut said. "That's why we did this, so people can call in and tell us their side of the story."

Irngaut answers the phone himself and said he has received many calls since the hotline began on Dec. 15.

The information will be presented at a CITES meeting in 2010. NTI hopes to prevent the transfer of polar bears from Appendix II to Appendix 1 under CITES, as requested by the United States. Classifying the bears under Appendix 1 would ultimately ban all polar bear imports worldwide, Irngaut said.

Appendix 1 "shall include all species threatened with extinction which are or may be affected by trade," according to CITES.

Irngaut said a worldwide ban on polar bear imports would be detrimental for Inuit.

"If this CITES proposal goes through, it's going to have a huge impact on our communities," he said.

Irngaut said people who call the hotline are asked questions including their observations on climate change, how often people come into contact with polar bears or have had property damage caused by bears, and people's opinions on the future of the bears.

Drikus Gissing, director of wildlife for the Government of Nunavut, said information gathered through the hotline will be valuable in helping to change public perception.

"I think it will be important; I think it will be useful to present it to the people there and say 'this is Inuit opinion based on traditional knowledge and observation'," he said.

Gissing said public perception on polar bears will be one of the determining factors when countries decide whether to reclassify the bears.

"Politics will play a big role and public perception, the perception of people in these other countries," Gissing said. "I believe that will play a big role in how these CITES countries will vote."

Polar bears should not be reclassified, Gissing also said.

"Appendix one under CITES is more related to trade and the possible impacts trade will have on a species and we don’t believe polar bears meet the criteria," he said.