Months ahead of a crucial global climate conference, the five countries -- Canada, Denmark (with Greenland), Norway, Russia and the United States -- expressed their "deep concern" at the end of a three-day meeting in the northern Norwegian town of Tromsoe.

"The parties agreed that long-term conservation of polar bears depends upon successful mitigation of climate change," they wrote in a joint statement following discussion on threats to the white bear that have emerged since they first signed a conservation agreement in 1973.

That agreement was aimed mainly at banning the hunting of polar bears, which at the time was considered the only real threat to the animal.

Nearly four decades later, however, the Arctic partners said they "agreed that impacts of climate change and the continued and increasing loss and fragmentation of sea ice... constitutes the most important threat to polar bear conservation."

They also "recognised the urgent need for an effective global response that will address the challenges of climate change."

While the statement was not legally binding, it was welcomed by environmentalists and scientists who said they hoped it would send a clear message to the international community ahead of talks to be held in Copenhagen in December on a new global pact on climate change to replace the Kyoto accord.

"It's a success," WWF polar bear expert Geoff York told AFP.

"The parties took significant steps in the right direction and the responsability now lies with governments to take action in order to reduce their emissions," he insisted.

Andrew Derocher, a Canadian who heads up scientific umbrella organisation the Polar Bear Specialist Group, was also pleased with the outcome of the Tromsoe meeting.

The final statement was "much more encouraging than I had feared at the beginning of the meeting," he told AFP, pointing out that he was "very pleased that the predominant threat of climate change was unanimously recognised by all nations.

"Now the question is how this message translates in Copenhagen and how the message of these two meetings (in Tromsoe and Copenhagen) will then translate in the global community and its willingness to cut emissions," he added.

Global warming is believed to be to blame for the increasingly rapid melting of the Arctic sea ice, which makes up the polar bear's primary hunting ground for its main prey, seals.

According to satellite pictures, the Arctic sea ice has over the past four summers stood at its lowest level in three decades, while some estimates say the ice could disappear completely during the warm months in the near future, which would have devastating consequences for the polar bear.

With the mercury rising ever higher, as many as two thirds of the 20-25,000 polar bears that roam the Arctic could disappear by the middle of this century, according to a recent estimate from the US Geological Survey.

The melting ice means not only shorter hunting seasons, but it also means the bears have to cross greater distances to reach their icy hunting grounds, something that has led to a deterioration of the bears' health, impacting their reproductive capacities and the cubs' chances of survival.

The polar bear is also threatened by chemical pollutants from industries and increased human activity in the once-pristine Arctic.

The Arctic states, which have only met twice since 1981, also agreed in Tromsoe to more frequent exchanges. They are now set to meet in Canada in 2011 and in Russia two years later.

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