Yahoo News 26 Oct 10;
NAGOYA, Japan (AFP) – One fifth of the world's vertebrates are threatened with extinction but conservation efforts are having an impact in slowing their demise, scientists said in a new study.
The study published Wednesday reported that the main reason for the "alarming" decline in the world's mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish was the destruction of their natural habitats.
"Global patterns of rising extinction risk are most marked in Southeast Asia, where agricultural expansion, logging and hunting are the primary forces behind accelerating extinction rates," a summary of the study said.
The study, by 174 scientists around the world, was described as the first time the rate of decline among vertebrate species had been quantified on a global scale.
It was based on research into 25,000 species on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's (IUCN's) "Red List" of threatened species.
IUCN members were due to discuss the findings of the research on Wednesday on the sidelines of a United Nations summit being held in the Japanese city of Nagoya to try to map out a plan to slow or stop the decrease in the world's biodiversity.
The summit is being held amid the backdrop of warnings from scientists that humans' destruction of nature is causing plant and animal species to become extinct at up to 1,000 times the natural rate.
The IUCN said last year the world was experiencing its sixth mass extinction in history, the last one being 65 million years ago when dinosaurs were wiped off the planet.
However the study published Wednesday said species loss and decline would have been 20 percent worse in the absence of conservation efforts to protect threatened species.
"Thus, while current conservation efforts remain insufficient to offset the main drivers of biodiversity loss... targeted conservation efforts have had a measurable positive impact on the planet's vertebrate species," the study said.
Some of the conservation strategies the study highlighted as being beneficial were captive breeding programmes, legislation to limit hunting, establishing protected areas and efforts to remove invasive alien species.
Fifth of vertebrates face extinction: study
* Study shows losses, but says rate being curbed
* More than 60 species improve in status
* Separate study says right policy choices could slow losses
David Fogarty Reuters AlertNet 27 Oct 10;
NAGOYA, Japan, Oct 27 (Reuters) - About a fifth of the world's vertebrates are threatened with extinction, a major review has found, highlighting the plight of nature that is the focus of global environment talks underway in Japan.
The study by more than 170 scientists across the globe used data for 25,000 species from the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List of threatened species and examined the status of the world's mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fishes.
The authors found, on average, 50 species of mammals, birds and amphibians move closer to extinction each year because of expansion of farms and plantations, logging and over-hunting. Another factor was competition from other species, particularly those introduced from other areas.
But the study, published in the journal Science, also found that conservation efforts had curbed the overall rate of loss.
It highlighted 64 mammal, bird and amphibian species that have improved in status, including three species that were extinct in the wild and have been re-introduced: the California Condor, the black-footed ferret in the United States and Przewalski's horse in Mongolia.
Delegates from nearly 200 countries are holding two weeks of talks in the Japanese city of Nagoya to set new 2020 targets to protect plant and animal species, draft a protocol to share genetic resources between countries and companies and allocate more funding to protect nature.
CLEAR EVIDENCE
The United Nations says Nagoya needs to agree tougher targets to save forests, reefs, rivers and wetlands that underpin livelihoods and economies. Preserving the richness of species is vital to ecosystems and the services they provide, such as clean water, fisheries and pollination of crops.
"This is clear evidence for why we absolutely must emerge from Nagoya with a strategic plan of action to direct our efforts for biodiversity in the coming decade," said Julia Marton-Lefevre, director-general of IUCN, which groups governments, scientists and conservation groups.
The study found Southeast Asia suffered the most dramatic recent losses largely because of rapid expansion of palm oil plantations and rice crops and logging.
A separate study published in Science said the world's biological diversity would continue to decline this century, but the rate could be slowed with the right policy choices.
Scientists from nine countries compared five recent global environmental assessments and peer-reviewed studies examining likely future changes in biodiversity.
Co-leader of the study, Paul Leadley of the University Paris-Sud, France, said doing nothing would lead to catastrophic biodiversity loss.
He said slowing climate change and deforestation could curb the loss of species, but this needed better policies to avoid large-scale conversion of forests for biofuel plantations.
The study said differences in policy action taken now could either lead to an increase in global forest cover of about 15 percent in the best case or losses of more than 10 percent in the worst case by 2030. (Editing by Ron Popeski)
More species slide to extinction
Richard Black, BBC News 26 Oct 10;
One fifth of animal and plant species are under the threat of extinction, a global conservation study has warned.
Scientists who compiled the Red List of Threatened Species say the proportion of species facing wipeout is rising.
But they say intensive conservation work has already pulled some species back from the brink of oblivion.
The report is being launched at the UN Biodiversity Summit in Japan, where governments are discussing how to better protect the natural world.
Launched at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) meeting, the report says that amphibians remain the most threatened category of animals, with 41% of species at risk, while only 13% of birds qualify for Red-Listing.
The highest losses were seen in Southeast Asia, where loss of habitat as forests are cleared for agriculture, including biofuel crops, is fastest.
"The 'backbone' of biodiversity is being eroded," said the eminent ecologist, Professor Edward O Wilson of Harvard University.
"One small step up the Red List is one giant leap forward towards extinction. This is just a small window on the global losses currently taking place."
However, the scientists behind the assessment - who publish their findings formally in the journal Science - say there is new evidence this time that conservation projects are having a noticeable global impact.
"Really focused conservation efforts work when we do them - many island birds are recovering, lots of examples like this," said Simon Stuart, chair of the Species Survival Commission with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
"We can show for sure that when we focus conservation efforts and really address the threats and put enough money into it, then you see positive results."
Species that have benefited from such action include three bred in captivity and returned to the wild - the California condor and black-footed ferret of the US, and Przewalski's horse in Mongolia.
The ban on commercial whaling has led to such a swiftly increasing population of humpback whales that they have come off the Red List entirely.
Meanwhile, a parallel study, also published in Science, asks where trends of increased risk, but also increased conservation effort, will lead the natural world in future.
Researchers analysed a range of scientific studies and global assessments. Although projections varied, all found that fundamental changes are needed in order to avoid declining populations across many types of plant and animal species.
United front
"There is no question that business-as-usual development pathways will lead to catastrophic biodiversity loss," said research leader Paul Leadley from the Universite Paris-Sud.
"Even optimistic scenarios for this century consistently predict extinctions and shrinking populations of many species."
This picture is, in large part, what the CBD meeting is supposed to prevent.
One of the many debates currently ongoing at the meeting here is what the global target for 2020 should be - to completely halt the loss of biodiversity, or something less ambitious.
Dr Leadley's analysis backs up the view of many that a complete halt is not feasible.
But governments do at least appear united in their desire to do something, according to Dr Stuart, one of a large IUCN team monitoring developments here.
"They've said that they want to see improvements in status, especially in those species that are most at risk," he told BBC News.
"That to us is a very good target - we think it's achievable with a lot of effort.
"There doesn't seem to be much disagreement between countries on that issue - on other issues, yes, but on the species issue they're pretty solid."
However, on financing for species protection there is a lot of disagreement.
Some developing countries want a 100-fold increase in current rates of spending by the West. Other nations are arguing for a 10-fold rise.
But given that the world is in recession, that climate change is also supposed to see a huge and rapid increase in spending, and that no-one knows what the current spend on biodiversity actually is, all bets are currently off on what wording delegates will eventually arrive at.
