Posted on 03/20/2006 9:20:10 AM PST by Pharmboy
Humans are responsible for the worst spate of extinctions since the dinosaurs and must make unprecedented extra efforts to reach a goal of slowing losses by 2010, a U.N. report said on Monday.
Habitats ranging from coral reefs to tropical rainforests face mounting threats, the Secretariat of the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity said in the report, issued at the start of a March 20-31 U.N. meeting in Curitiba, Brazil.
"In effect, we are currently responsible for the sixth major extinction event in the history of earth, and the greatest since the dinosaurs disappeared, 65 million years ago," said the 92-page Global Biodiversity Outlook 2 report.
A rising human population of 6.5 billion was undermining the environment for animals and plants via pollution, expanding cities, deforestation, introduction of "alien species" and global warming, it said.
It estimated the current pace of extinctions was 1,000 times faster than historical rates, jeopardizing a global goal set at a 2002 U.N. summit in Johannesburg "to achieve, by 2010, a significant reduction in the current rate of biodiversity loss."
"Unprecedented additional efforts' will be needed to achieve the 2010 biodiversity target at national, regional and global levels," it said. The report was bleaker than a first U.N. review of the diversity of life issued in 2001.
NOT ABATING
According to a "Red List" compiled by the World Conservation Union, 844 animals and plants are known to have gone extinct in the last 500 years, ranging from the dodo to the Golden Toad in Costa Rica. It says the figures are probably a big underestimate.
"The direct causes of biodiversity loss -- habitat change, over-exploitation, the introduction of invasive alien species, nutrient loading and climate change -- show no sign of abating," the report said.
Despite the threats, it said the 2010 goal was "by no means an impossible one."
It urged better efforts to safeguard habitats ranging from deserts to jungles and better management of resources from fresh water to timber. About 12 percent of the earth's land surface is in protected areas, against just 0.6 percent of the oceans.
It also recommended more work to curb pollution and to rein in industrial emissions of gases released by burning fossil fuels and widely blamed for global warming.
The report said, for instance, that the annual net loss of forests was 7.3 million hectares (18 million acres) -- an area the size of Panama or Ireland -- from 2000-2005. Still, the figure was slightly less than 8.9 million hectares a year from 1990-2000.
And it said that annual environmental losses from introduced pests in the United States, Australia, Britain, South Africa, India and Brazil had been estimated at more than $100 billion.
About 300 "invasive species" -- molluscs, crustaceans and fish -- have been introduced to the Mediterranean from the Red Sea since the late 19th century when the Suez Canal opened.
It gave mixed overall marks for progress on four key goals.
It said there was "reasonable progress" toward global cooperation but "limited" advances in ensuring enough cash and research. It estimated that annual aid to help slow biodiversity losses sank to $750 million from $1 billion since 1998.
And it said there was "far from sufficient" progress in better planning and implementation of biodiversity decisions and a "mixed" record in better understanding of biodiversity.
Sky is falling ping...
For my next trick, I'll make the UN extinct.
These people are insane.
Just adding "UN" to the title gives it a double laugh.
But wait. As interesting as all that has been,kind Sir.
You overlooked your bill.
The UN will require your country to pay $500 Billion for your country's damage to our world.
(Please make your payment in Eurodollars,thank you.)
It's the "science" of evolution. It has to be right.
You would think that the organization in the world with the biggest budget would have the smarts to hire competent experts.
They seem unaware that corelation almost never indicates causation.
Might as well blame man for periods of light and darkness...
Consider how many humans have eaten tomatoes and died... eventually.
How about wrist watches? Hitler wore one! Damn!
Of course, that didn't happen. In 1994, the World Conservation Union found known extinctions since 1600 to include only 258 animal species, 368 insect species and 384 vascular plants. Since the establishment of an endangered species list in the 1960s, only seven species have been declared extinct in the U.S.: four freshwater fish, a freshwater clam and two small birds. We mourn for them all, of course, including the clam, but we mourn all the more for the people duped by appalling scare tactics like those of Mr. Myers. Mr. Crichton gets the scare-mongers exactly right throughout "State of Fear."
Excellent book, BTW. I highly recommend it, especially for the bibliography and references.
We could collect that easily by forcing their diplomats to pay up on their parking fines.
And the solution is...hand over your paycheck to the UN and destroy the economies of the West.
BTW - They will excuse the "developing world", commies and dictatorships from complying. Why? The cost of saving the world is too great for the "downtrodden" to insist they pull their share of the load. In other words, economic factors are important only if you aren't the Great Satan.
Actually, they don't have a clue, but they have a rectal repository that yields endless arbitrary numbers.
80% of all living things which ever lived on earth are now extinct.
How do we know? We find their fossils and remains.
How long has man been in the picture? Perhaps 0.001% of the total period we can find evidence to study.
Fraud in science, affecting billions, should be a capital offense!
Too many people, particularly in Africa, Asia, and Europe.
Bush's fault.
I wonder of Mulder has heard about this,
Ditto for fear-mongering by the media.
The UN is full or kooks and criminals. All these NGO's that are supported by OUR tax dollars need to be kicked out of there.
"Animals" to them and freakin BUGS, toads, and worms. These nuts want to run the world, control every aspect of your life.
Just what is the problem with extinction anyway? Father Darwin is more than capable of repopulating the earth if need be.
Ah. And they know this how? They knew exactly how many species roamed the earth in the time of the dinosaurs? Man, these guys are GOOD!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.