800 species face imminent extinction : Our house is on fire.

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Extinction alert for 800 species

By Richard Black

Environment Correspondent, BBC News website

 

 

Researchers have compiled a global map of sites where animals and plants face

imminent extinction. The list, drawn up by a coalition of conservation groups,

covers almost 800 species which they say will disappear soon unless urgent

measures are taken. Most of the 800 are now found only in one location, mainly

in the tropics. Writing in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,

the researchers say protecting some of these sites would cost under $1,000 per

year. " This is a whole suite of species threatened with extinction, " said

Stuart Butchart, global species programme co-ordinator with BirdLife

International, one of the groups behind the report.

 

If we don't protect them, these are guaranteed extinctions

Stuart Butchart

" Most of them are living on single sites and are therefore highly vulnerable

to human impacts, " he told the BBC News website. " Safeguarding this suite of

sites is not the only thing we need to do; but if we don't protect them, these

are guaranteed extinctions. " Aiming for zero The list of organisations

behind the study reads like a Who's Who of the conservation world, with the

Zoological Society of London, Conservation International, and the American Bird

Conservancy among 13 groups involved. They come together under the umbrella of

a relatively new organisation, the Alliance for Zero Extinction (AZE), whose aim

is exactly what the name implies.

 

From their databases they have drawn up a list of 595 sites which contain at

least one species classified as " endangered " or " critically endangered "

according to criteria laid down in the Red List of threatened organisms. Each

is either the only place where that creature resides, or contains at least 95%

of the known population. Some of the sites contain more than one endangered

species. Because not every organism on the planet has been studied or even

identified, the 794 species include only birds, mammals, amphibians, conifers,

and some groups of reptiles. The majority of the key sites are in tropical

regions of the world, and most in developing countries. On average they are in

places where the human population density is high; a minority are fully

protected. Price of failure For John Fa, director of conservation science at

Durrell Wildlife, working with communities is the key to conservation strategies

in these regions. " Our strategy is not just to focus on the

animals but also to work alongside local communities so we do something for

their livelihoods, " he told the BBC News website.

 

Projects run by Durrell Wildlife include captive breeding of species like the

pygmy hog of Assam and the ploughshare tortoise in Madagascar. Both animals

are now being re-introduced into the wild. " In Madagascar the community

benefits, " said John Fa, " because we have been able to atract donor money to

support the establishment of schools, building of wells, and starting

initiatives like home gardens; so people see there are benefits from conserving

wildlife. " The AZE team has calculated the cost of conserving each of the 595

key sites; they conclude that the annual price would vary hugely, from $470 up

to $3,500,000. The higher end of the scale might appear prohibitively

expensive, but Stuart Butchart is optimistic that at least some can be properly

protected. " The message that these are species restricted to single sites is

quite a powerful argument for the public, " he said. " It's impossible to know

or predict how long these species might have; but certainly within the

next few decades, if these sites aren't protected, they will be gone. "

 

Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/sci/tech/4522044.stm

 

Published: 2005/12/12 21:56:02 GMT

 

© BBC MMV

 

 

 

 

We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount.

Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war

than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living.

-- General Omar Bradley

 

 

 

 

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