30 species added to Thailand's extinction watch list

Bangkok Post 14 May 10;

Thirty animal and plant species at risk of extinction have been listed with the environmental protection agency.

The species listed include 20 animals and 10 plants such as the black-necked stork, Thai giant soft shell, Irrawaddy dolphin, hornbills, Asian elephants, Eld's deer, tigers, sea turtles, water lily, and Sangyod, a native rice strain.

The Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (Onep) made the inventory to mark the International Year of Biodiversity.

Onep secretary-general Mingquan Wichayarangsaridh said Thailand, which had already signed the Convention on Biological Diversity, had to a fulfil biodiversity conservation mission.

"The listed species are at risk of extinction and we already have a plan to increase their populations, or reduce the rate of loss. We will present the result of plant and animal protection at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Brazil [this year]," she said.