Three landmark studies released this month underline the urgency of preserving the world’s ecosystems.
The World Conservation releases the 2000 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species every four years, the most authoritative and comprehensive status assessment of global biodiversity. This year, it shows that grim prospects for our planet’s animal and plant species are rapidly worsening. The number of critically endangered species has increased – mammals from 169 to 180; birds from 168 to 182. Primates are at the top of the list for mammals, lowland and mountain tropical rainforest habitats are the most threatened habitats. Indonesia, India, Brazil and China, respectively, have the most threatened species.
The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund is a new $150 million fund established by Conservation International, the World Bank, and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) that targets the word’s 25 most threatened biological hotspots for conservation. Each partner will contribute $25 million and the group will raise another $75 million from other agencies.
During the first year, the fund will focus on Madagascar, West Africa and the Tropical Andes. At least five additional hotspots will be added in each subsequent year. Together, the 25 hotspots harbor over 60 percent of the worlds terrestrial plant and animal species on just 1.4 percent of the planets land area.
88 percent of the originally identified hotspots are already gone.
“This is a new source of money exclusively for local groups whose work is central to protecting the biodiversity hotspots,” notes Peter Seligmann, Conservation International chairman and CEO. Investments will support projects such as training, transnational planning, local dialogues with extractive industries like mining and logging, conflict resolution, priority setting and consensus building, and strengthening indigenous organizations.
175 scientists contributed to a $4 million two-year global research effort to produce the reportWorld Resources 2000-2001: People and Ecosystems, The Fraying Web of Life, by the UN Development Programme, UN Environment Program, the World Bank and the World Resources Institute. They
rated the health of coastal, forest, grassland, and freshwater and agricultural ecosystems in terms of their ability to produce the goods and services the world relies on for life to continue on earth. Says Thomas Johansson, Director of UNDP’s Energy and Atmosphere Programme, “Ecosystems provide essential services like climate control and nutrient recycling that we cannot replace at any reasonable price.”
The authors conclude that not only are individual ecosystems stressed to the limits but, “Human activities are significantly altering the basic chemical cycles that all ecosystems depend on. This strikes at the foundation of ecosystem functioning.” The report points to human population growth and increased consumption, and the resulting heightened levels of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, as the two principal drivers in the decline of the world’s ecosystems.
“Environmental conservation is more than protecting rare species of plants and animals in isolation. It also requires conserving ecosystems — the whole amalgamation of natural life forms and their
functions – in large, operable configurations sufficient to maintain conditions conducive for life. We have perhaps a decade to mold the world’s social and politic systems into forms adequate to ensure maintenance and restoration of the Earth’s ecosystems. Or human potentiality will be greatly diminished, if not extinguished.”
The second report, Global Warming and Terrestrial Biodiversity Decline, by World Wildlife Fund Canada, the David Suzuki Foundation and the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada predicts that a third to half of the world’s species – depending on the region – will vanish as the planet warms. Where warming is predicted to occur most rapidly, in Canada, Russia and Scandinavia, up to 60 percent of habitat could be lost by the end of this century.
The fate of many species will likely depend on their ability to permanently migrate away from increasingly less favorable climatic conditions to new areas that meet their climatic needs. Since the ability of species to migrate is not well understood researchers studied how quickly species might be required to move to keep pace with habitat change, rather than how quickly they might be able to move.
The Weather Channel will air “Hot Planet,” a one-hour documentary on the science and impacts of
global warming, and best- and worst- case scenarios for the U.S. over the next 100 years. It will be aired at 9:00PM on October 10, 12; midnight on October 11 and 13, and 2PM on October 15 (EST).
For more information on biodiversity hotspots visit Conservation International, GEF and the World Bank.
For grant guidelines and application forms: [sorry this link is no longer available]
The reports, Global Warming and Terrestrial Biodiversity Decline and Resources 2000-2001 are online.
The IUCN Red List is online: [sorry this link is no longer available] and reported on in depth by Environment News Service.
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