Guest guest Posted December 31, 2004 Report Share Posted December 31, 2004 This message was forwarded to you by yitzeling. Comment from sender: This article is from The Star Online URL: http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2004/12/28/features/9507980 & sec=\ features ________________________ Tuesday December 28, 2004 Species threatened with extinction By HILARY CHIEW THE world’s biological diversity continues to decline, with the latest World Conservation Union’s (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species revealing that 15,589 species face extinction in the near future. Released at the 3rd IUCN World Conservation Congress in Bangkok last month, the authoritative list is an update of the last major analysis in 2000, which showed that one in eight birds (12%) and one in four mammals (23%) were threatened with extinction. The new report titled A Global Species Assessment showed that the pressure on birds and mammals has not eased and the infamous line-up has now been joined by one in three amphibians (32%) and almost half (42%) of turtles and tortoises. Craig Hilton-Taylor, IUCN’s Red List programme officer, said the number of threatened species highlighted in the report was an under-estimate since only a fraction of known species had been assessed. “There is still much to be discovered about key species-rich habitats such as tropical forests and marine and freshwater systems, as well as invertebrates, plants and fungi which make up the majority of biodiversity.” The latest list covered 38,047 species, less than 3% of the world’s 1.9 million described species. The conservation status of 26,220 animals and 11,824 plants was studied. In comparison, the previous list assessed 16,507 species and found 11,406 in a threatened state. The 191-page report included for the first time, complete assessments of amphibians, cycads and conifers. It also highlighted which species were at greatest risk of extinction, where they occurred, and the many threats facing them as well as successful rescue of species from the brink of extinction. In the vertebrate groups, amphibians are the most threatened. The report pointed out that while the status of vertebrates was relatively well documented (roughly 40% has been assessed), scientists know very little about species in non-terrestrial systems (such as freshwater and marine), species-rich habitats (tropical forests and the deep ocean) and or species-rich groups (invertebrates, plants and fungi). Conceived in 1963, the Red List is produced by the IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) – a network of some 8,000 scientists in 120 specialist groups working in almost every country – and possibly holds the most complete scientific knowledge on the biology and current conservation status of species. Not withstanding all the scientific efforts, conservationists are at their wits’ end on how to make the rest of the world take their foreboding findings seriously. IUCN director-general Achim Steiner admitted that despite years of producing scientific data highlighting the impending crisis, the conservation community still faced difficulties in making people believe them and understand the significance of their finds. “This is not just the passion of some individual scientists to shock people into believing the consequences of the loss. These findings are being ignored. We’re reaching the limit of exploitation and we must reverse the fate,” he said, adding that the loss of one species would have a domino effect on entire ecosystems. The report said the current rate of species loss, dubbed the sixth wave of extinction, was 50 to 500 times higher than those in fossil records. These records appear to be punctuated by five major mass extinctions, the most recent of which occurred 65 million years ago. And while the vast majority of extinctions documented since 1500 had occurred on oceanic islands, the report warned that continental extinctions were becoming common with 27 species suffering that fate in the past 20 years. The total number of extinctions listed by IUCN has grown from 766 in 2000 to 784 this year while the number of “extinct in the wild” species (found only in captivitivity) rose from 50 to 60. Extinct in the wild species are in many respect, extinct, as they no longer play a functional role in their ecosystems. And because successful reintroductions are rare, it cannot be assumed that these species will be restored to the wild. Steiner, however, remained hopeful as two-thirds of the world’s governments are members of IUCN. He believed the much-needed political will for policy development could be garnered to speed up inter-governmental co-operation to halt biodiversity loss. “Most threats to biodiversity are human-driven but human action alone can prevent many species from becoming extinct. There are many examples of species being brought back from the brink, such as the southern white rhino and black- footed ferret, and thousands of dedicated people around the world are doing their utmost to reverse the extinction rate. “But this cannot continue to be the task of the environmental community alone. Governments and businesses must commit to these efforts as well,” he added. The European Commission’s 25 member countries responded by initiating Countdown 2010 – Halt the loss of biodiversity in May. The target year of 2010 is in accordance with the goal set at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002 to reduce the rate of species loss. In this initiative, European governments will co-ordinate their commitments to a series of global and regional agreements aimed at protecting biodiversity such as the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Millennium Development Goals. World Wide Fund for Nature International director-general Claude Martin, however, commented that governments are not good at making commitments and worse at keeping their words. “Politicians are more likely to listen when there’s a strong public opinion, so we need to co-ordinate these voices. And Europe must take note of its ecological footprints outside the continent,” he said in reference to European subsidies in the fisheries sector that is fuelling destructive fishing practices in waters beyond Europe. Indeed, the 2010 goal hinges on the sincerity of developed countries to remove such perverse incentives and channel the financial resources to developing countries, which hold the most threatened species but are least able to invest resources into conservation. <p> ________________________ Your one-stop information portal: The Star Online http://thestar.com.my http://biz.thestar.com.my http://classifieds.thestar.com.my http://cards.thestar.com.my http://search.thestar.com.my http://star-motoring.com http://star-space.com http://star-jobs.com http://star-ecentral.com http://star-techcentral.com 1995-2004 Star Publications (Malaysia) Bhd. All rights reserved. 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