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Threatened species list published
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Life on earth is disappearing fast. And we are to blame, according to the World Conservation Union or IUCN, which has just published its latest Red List of Threatened Species. One in four mammals, one in eight birds, one third of all amphibians and 70% of the world's assessed plants on the 2007 IUCN Red List are in jeopardy.
Jean-Christophe Vié is head of the IUCN's species programme:" the main threat is the destruction of their habitat, for example the forests being destroyed, coral reef destruction."
The Western Lowland gorilla population has declined by more than 60% over the last 20 to 25 years due to the commercial bushmeat trade and the Ebola virus. Orangutans in Sumatra and Borneo are under threat by habitat loss due to illegal and legal logging and forest clearance for palm oil plantations. This year corals and 74 seaweeds have appeared for the first time on the list, suffering the effects of climate change and overfishing.
"Climate change was distorting the debate, some specialist will tell you that some species will have already disappeared before climate change actually has any real impact on those species because of other factors."
And after an intensive, but fruitless, search for the Yangtze river dolphin, it has been listed as critically endangered(Possibly Extinct). A possible sighting reported in late August 2007 is currently being investigated by Chinese scientists. In addition, 10,000 birds are on this year's Red List. The rapid decline in birds has been driven by drugs and insecticides use to threat livestock, a lack of food, habitat loss and collision with power lines. Overfishing continues to put pressure on many fish species as does demand from the aquarium trade. Conservationists are calling for more fish to be reared in captivity for the aquarium trade, so the wild populations can be left to recover. But there's one success story, if you can call it that. The Mauritius Echo parakeet, which is one of the world's rarest parrots 15 years ago, has moved from critically endangered to endangered, the improvement is a result of close monitoring of nesting sites and supplementary feeding combined with a captive breeding and release program. Such conservation action is slowing down biodiversity loss in some cases, but there're still many species that need more attention if they're to avoid ending up on next year's list.
Stefanie McIntyre, Reuters
(by drop02)
