The United States government has designated a huge coastal area in Alaska a critical habitat for polar bears.
The 500,000-square-kilometre territory includes locations in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas off Alaska's northern coast where oil companies want to drill.
The designation does not ban oil exploration, but means any proposed activity must be weighed against its impact on the bears' habitat.
Tiger pledges
Meanwhile, the world's first summit on how to protect the tiger has ended in Russia with donors pledging $435 million to save the endangered animal.
The summit, called by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, brought together officials from countries in which wild tigers live, along with the head of the World Bank and a variety of wildlife groups.
But conservationists warn that without any mechanism to support enforcement, more tigers will be killed.
