Source - Bangkok Post (Eng)
May 04, 2006


Climate change harms their natural habitats

Geneva - The number of threatened animal and plant species has
exceeded 16,000 for the first time, as climate change and other threats
damage their natural habitats, an environmental report said on Tuesday.

The 16,119 species facing extinction include the hippopotamus,
polar bears, desert gazelles, species of freshwater fish and Mediteranean
flowers, the World Conservation Union (IUCN) said in its biennial “Red List”
of threatened species.

The endangered species include one quarter of the world’s
coniferous trees, one in eight bird species and one in four mammals, while
ecological damage extends from melting icecaps to dying deserts, the report
said.

“The 2006 IUCN Red List shows a clear trend: biodiversity loss is
increasing, not slowing down,” said IUCN director-general Achim Steiner.

The decline highlighted “the impact mankind is having upon life on
earth”, the IUCN said in the report, which provides a measure of the road
towards an international target of significantly reducing biodiversity loss
by 2010.

Mr Steiner said positive action of the kind that has helped the
Mekong catfish in Southeast Asia, Indian vultures and the white-tailed eagle
in Europe could make a difference.

“Biodiversity cannot be saved by environmentalists alone-it must
become the responsibility of everyone with the power and resources to act,”
he explained.

“To succeed on a global scale, we need new alliances across all
sectors of society.”

A total of 40,177 species are assessed in the IUCN Red List.
The polar bear has been moved into the “threatened” category,
making it “one of most notable casualties of global warming” the
organization said.

The shift was due to the melting of Arctic ice floes that allow
polar bears to migrate and hunt for seals.

That erosion is expected to lead to a 30% decline of the species,
which was previously classified as “conservation dependent”, over the next
45 years, the IUCN warned.

Africa’s iconic hippopotamus is now listed as vulnerable after
populations in the strife-torn Democratic Republic of the Congo-about 30,000
strong just over a decade ago-declined by 95% partly due to undbridled
hunting.

Even rarer pygmy hippos in West Africa have suffered a similar
fate amid the anarchy generated by political conflicts and instability.

A first detailed regional assessment of some marine species in the
Red List reveals that one-fifth of them are threatened with extinction.

They include fish such as the now critically endangered skate-once
a common sight in markets in northern Europe-and the angel shark which has
disappeared from the North Sea.

Even the deep-sea gulper shark has been unable to escape the
onslaught in its natural habitat near the ocean floor, according to the
report. In some regions 95% of its population has been wiped out by
overfishing. “The desperate situation of many sharks and rays is just the
tip of the iceberg,” said the IUCN report.

Meanwhile, unregulated hunting is adding to pressure on drylands
and deserts, which are “slowly but surely…being emptied of their diverse and
specialized wildlife, almost unnoticed”, according to the report.

The dama gazelle of the Sahara desert has been upgraded to
“critically endangered” after suffering an 80% slump in numbers over the
past decade, while other gazelle and antelope species face a growing threat
of extinction.

< Back