Endangered Species Is List Growing, Says Green Group

[Guest guest]

http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=299

 

Endangered Species Is List Growing, Says Green Group

 

November 03, 2004 — By Reuters

 

BANGKOK, Thailand — The world's list of endangered

species is growing at an alarming and unprecedented

rate, as governments pay less and less attention to

green issues, a major global environmental body said

on Tuesday.

 

The World Conservation Union, which also goes under

the acronym IUCN, said it would release a " red list "

of more than 12,000 threatened species at the World

Conservation Congress in Thailand, which starts on

Nov. 17.

 

" The scale and pace of extinction is higher now than

ever before. Research indicates that the rate could

even be up to 1,000 times higher than we would

naturally expect, " IUCN Director General Achim Steiner

told a news conference.

 

With up to 30 percent of the world's species facing

extinction in the next 50 years, the IUCN said it

would also release a damning report on what it says is

shrinking government investment in conservation.

 

Up to 3,500 environmentalists, scientists, business

people, and government officials are expected to

attend the week-long conference, which is being billed

as the largest conservation meeting ever.

 

Corporate heavyweights, including oil giants Shell and

BP and world No. 1 car maker General Motors, are

expected to show up, pushing the environmental

performance of big business into the spotlight.

 

Steiner said he expected sparks to fly at the

conference, which comes round every four years, as

green groups and business leaders clash over the best

ways to manage the environment.

 

" The vast majority of companies are ignoring the

environment and they are far from acknowledging the

problems that we are faced with, " he said. " The oil,

gas, mining, and agricultural sectors in particular

need to become far more proactive in reversing

environment degradation. "

 

Source: Reuters