[OKC] Mammals facing extinction threat

[Shauna Struby]

FYI - a few points from the article:

.         The report's authors said the current concern with financial
matters must not be allowed to obstruct the decline in the Earth's natural
systems. "The financial crisis is nothing compared with the environmental
crisis," the deputy head of IUCN's species programme, Jean-Christophe Vie,
told BBC News. "It's going to affect a few people, whereas the biodiversity
crisis is going to affect the entire world. So there is a risk that because
of the financial crisis, people are going to say 'yeah, the environment is
not that urgent'; it is really urgent." 

.         "Within our lifetime, hundreds of species could be lost as a
result of our own actions, a frightening sign of what is happening to the
ecosystems where they live," said Julia Marton-Lefevre, director-general of
the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) which
publishes the Red List. 

.         About 40% of mammal species are compromised because human
expansion is putting a squeeze on their habitat.

.         A further 366 amphibians have been added to the list. This is the
most threatened animal group of all, with about one-third on the high-risk
list. 

Mammals facing extinction threat 

By Richard Black 
Environment correspondent, BBC News website, Barcelona



At least 25% of the world's mammal species are at risk of extinction,
according to the first assessment of their status for a decade. 

The Red List of Threatened Species says populations of more than half of
mammalian species are falling, with Asian primates particularly at risk. 

The biggest threat to mammals is loss of habitat, including deforestation. 

But there is good news for the African elephant, whose recovery leads to
removal from the high-risk list. 

This year's Red List looks at 5,487 mammals, and concludes that 1,141 are
currently on the path towards disappearance. 

More here ::: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7651981.stm 

 

::: shauna lawyer struby

 

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