THE RACE TO EXTINCTION

[Anonymous]

THE RACE TO EXTINCTION
Gorillas,
orangutans, and corals are among the plants and animals which are
sliding closer to extinction.The Red List of Threatened Species for
2007 names habitat loss, hunting and climate change among the
causes.The World Conservation Union (IUCN) has identified more than
16,000 species threatened with extinction, while prospects have
brightened for only one.The IUCN says there is a lack of political will
to tackle the global erosion of nature.

Governments have pledged to stem the loss of species by 2010; but it does not appear to be happening.
“This
year’s Red List shows that the invaluable efforts made so far to
protect species are not enough,” said the organisation’s
director-general, Julia Marton-Lefevre.”The rate of biodiversity loss
is increasing, and we need to act now to significantly reduce it and
stave off this global extinction crisis.”One in three amphibians, one
in four mammals, one in eight birds and 70% of plants so far assessed
are believed to be at risk of extinction, with human alteration of
their habitat the single biggest cause.

Critical list
The
tone of this year’s Red List is depressingly familiar. Of 41,415
species assessed, 16,306 are threatened with extinction to a greater or
lesser degree.
RED LIST DEFINITIONS
Extinct – Surveys suggest last known individual has died
Critically
Endangered – Extreme high risk of extinction – this some Critically
Endangered species are also tagged Possibly Extinct
Endangered – Species at very high risk of extinction
Vulnerable – Species at high risk of extinction
Near Threatened – May soon move into above categories
Least Concern – Species is widespread and abundant
Data Deficient – not enough data to assess
The
main changes from previous assessments include some of the natural
world’s iconic animals, such as the western lowland gorilla, which
moves from the Endangered to the Critically Endangered category.

Numbers have declined by more than 60% over the last 20-25 years.
Forest
clearance has allowed hunters access to previously inaccessible areas;
and the Ebola virus has followed, wiping out one-third of the total
gorilla population in protected areas, and up to 95% in some
regions.Ebola has moved through the western lowland gorilla’s
rangelands in western central Africa from the southwest to the
northeast. If it continues its march, it will reach all the remaining
populations within a decade.The Sumatran orangutan was already
Critically Endangered before this assessment, with numbers having
fallen by 80% in the last 75 years.But IUCN has identified new threats
to the 7,300 individuals that remain. Forests are being cleared for
palm oil plantations, and habitat is being split up by the building of
new roads.In Borneo, home to the second orangutan species, palm oil
plantations have expanded 10-fold in a decade, and now take up 27,000
sq km of the island. Illegal logging reduces habitat still further,
while another threat comes from hunting for food and the illegal
international pet trade.So fragmented have some parts of the Bornean
forest become that some isolated orangutan populations now number less
than 50 individuals, which IUCN notes are “apparently not viable in the
long term”.

Straight to zero
The
great apes are perhaps the most charismatic creatures on this year’s
Red List, but the fact they are in trouble has been known for some
years. Perhaps more surprising are some of the new additions.”This is
the first time we’ve assessed corals, and it’s a bit worrying because
some of them moved straight from being not assessed to being possibly
extinct,” said Jean-Christophe Vie, deputy head of IUCN’s species
programme.”We know that some species were there in years gone by, but
now when we do the assessment they are not there. And corals are like
the trees in the forest; they build the ecosystem for fish and other
animals.”IUCN is now embarking on a complete assessment of coral
species, and expects to find that about 30% to 40% are threatened.The
most glaring example of a waterborne creature failed by conservation
efforts is probably the baiji, the Yangtze river dolphin, which is
categorised as Critically Endangered, Possibly Extinct.This freshwater
species appears to have failed in its bid for survival against the
destructive tides of fishing, shipping, pollution, and habitat change
in its one native river. Chinese media reported a possible sighting
earlier this year, but the IUCN is not convinced; with no confirmed
evidence of a living baiji since 2002, they believe its time on Earth
may well be over.If so, it will have become a largely accidental victim
of the various forces of human development. Not so the spectacular
Banggai cardinalfish; a single decade of hunting for the aquarium trade
has brought numbers down by an astonishing 90%.Many African vultures
are new entrants on this year’s list. But birds provide the only
notable success, with the colourful Mauritius echo parakeet making it
back from Critically Endangered to Endangered.

Intensive conservation work has brought numbers up from about 50 to above 300.
But
the gharial, a crocodilian found in the major rivers of India and
Nepal, provides a cautionary tale of what can happen when conservation
money and effort dry up.
A decade ago, a programme of
re-introduction to the wild brought the adult population up from about
180 to nearer 430. Deemed a success, the programme was stopped; numbers
are again hovering around 180, and the gharial finds itself once more
on the Critically Endangered list.

Climate of distraction
IUCN
says that it is not too late for many of these species; that they can
be brought back from the brink.It is something that the world’s
governments have committed to, vowing in the 1992 Convention on
Biological Diversity “to achieve by 2010 a significant reduction of the
current rate of biodiversity loss at the global, regional and national
level”.”Governments know they are going to fail to reach that target,”
said Jean-Christophe Vie, “and not just in terms of a few species – the
failure is really massive.”We know that it is possible to reverse the
trend, but the causes are so huge and massive and global, and there is
still a lack of attention to the crisis that biodiversity faces.”Many
in the environmental movement argue that too much money and attention
has gone on climate change, with other issues such as biodiversity,
clean water and desertification ignored at the political level.IUCN’s
assessment is that climate change is important for many Red List
species; but it is not the only threat, and not the most important
threat.There are conflicts between addressing the various issues, with
biofuels perhaps being the obvious example. Useful they may turn out to
be in reducing greenhouse gas emissions; but many conservationists are
seriously concerned that the vast swathes of monoculture they will
bring spell dire consequences for creatures such as the orangutan.

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September 12, 2007 at 10:41 AM