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World species 'dying out'
16/05/2008 12:14 - (SA)
London - World biodiversity has declined
by almost one third in the past 35 years due mainly to habitat
loss and the wildlife trade, the World Wide Fund for Nature
(WWF) said on Friday.
It warned that climate change would add increasingly to the
wildlife woes over the next three decades.
"Biodiversity underpins the health of the planet and has a
direct impact on all our lives so it is alarming that despite of
an increased awareness of environmental issues we continue to
see a downtrend trend," said WWF campaign head Colin Butfield.
"However, there are small signs for hope and if government
grasps what is left of this rapidly closing window of
opportunity, we can begin to reverse this trend."
WWF's Living Planet Index tracks some 4 000 species of
birds, fish, mammals, reptiles and amphibians globally. It shows
that between 1970 and 2007 land-based species fell by 25%, marine by 28% and freshwater by 29%.
Marine bird species have fallen 30% since the
mid-1990s.
The report comes ahead of a meeting in Bonn next week of
member states of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity to
try to find out how to save the world's flora and fauna under
threat from human activities.
Some scientists see the loss of plants, animals and insects
as the start of the sixth great species wipe out in the Earth's
history, the last being in the age of the dinosaurs which
disappeared 130 million years ago.
Scientists point out that most of the world's food and
medicines come initially from nature, and note that dwindling
species put human survival at risk.
"Reduced biodiversity means millions of people face a future
where food supplies are more vulnerable to pests and disease and
where water is in irregular or short supply," said WWF director
general James Leape.
"No one can escape the impact of biodiversity loss because
reduced global diversity translates quite clearly into fewer new
medicines, greater vulnerability to natural disasters and
greater effects from global warming.
The head of Britain's world-renowned Kew Gardens in an
interview last month likened biodiversity - the broad array of
plants and animals spread across the planet - to a planetary
health monitor.
"First-aiders always check the ABC - Airway, Breathing and
Circulation - of a patient to see if anything needs immediate
attention," Stephen Hopper said.
"Biodiversity is the ABC of life on the planet - and it is
showing it is in deep trouble," he added.
Kew is doing its part through the Millennium Seed Bank
project, which is well on the way to collecting and storing
safely 10% of the world's wild plants.
The next goal - as yet a wish without any financial backing
- is to raise that total to 25% by 2020.
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