Nature under threat

2005-01-24 11:41

Paris - With man changing the natural environment at an ever more frenetic pace many species risk being unable to adapt and becoming extinct, scientists believe.

Following are some figures on the process:

One out of four mammals, one out of eight birds, one amphibious animal out of three and nearly half of all freshwater turtles are threatened, according to the World Conservation Union (IUCN).

At least 15 589 species face extinction, according to a 2004 IUCN list, including 7 266 animal species and 8 323 species of plants and lichens.

The current rate of species becoming extinct is estimated to be up to 1 000 times the normal figure, ie in evolutionary terms including the normal renewal of ecosystems.

Since 1500, a total of 784 known animal and plant species are considered to have become extinct. Another 60 only survive in captivity or through cultivation.

Just like the better-known dodo, a large flightless bird that was found on Mauritius until the end of the 17th century, the Arctic Penguin, several of the giant Galapagos turtles or the Tasmanian wolf, thousands of unknown species die out every year.

So far only 1.75 million species out of an estimated 10 to 30 million have been identified by scientists.

It is estimated that for each tropical plant that becomes extinct another 30 associated species also disappear. For each tropical tree that becomes extinct 400 species also die out.

Moderate global warming could lead to the extinction of 15 to 37% of all species, according to a simulation using 1 000 plants and animals in six world regions that are particularly biologically diverse.

Three quarters of the world population use plants for their healing effects and 70% of our medical drugs are based on plants.

Researchers find more than 10 000 new species every year, mainly insects and above all Coleoptera, an order of insects that comprises the beetles, forming the largest order of animals on the earth, and which makes up almost one fourth of all known species.

- AFP