Guest
|
 Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 10:50 am Post subject: PUSHING SPECIES TO THE BRINK |
 |
|
Thirty-five percent of the world>s birds, 52 percent of amphibians and
71 percent of warm-water reef-building corals are threatened by likely
climate change, according to a report prepared by the International
Union for the Conservation of Nature presented to the World
Conservation Congress being held in Barcelona.
The report found that 3,438 of the world>s 9,856 bird species have at
least one out of 11 traits that are susceptible to climate change.
Albatross, penguin, petrel and shearwater families are all likely to
be threatened by a warming planet while heron and egret families, and
osprey, kite, hawk and eagle families are among those least likely to
be susceptible to climate change.
"This is the first time that a systematic assessments of species'
susceptibility to climate change has been attempted," said Wendy
Foden, of IUCN>s Species Programme. "Climate change is already
happening, but conservation decision makers currently have very little
guidance on which species are going to be the worst affected."
The study identified 3,217 of the 6,222 amphibians in the world that
are likely to be susceptible to climate change. Three salamander
families are could be particularly susceptible, while 80-100 percent
of Seychelles frogs and Indian Burrowing Frogs, Australian ground
frogs, horned toads and glassfrog families were assessed as
susceptible.
The report found that 566 of 799 warm-water reef-building coral
species are likely to be susceptible to the impacts of climate change
According to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, 32 percent of
amphibians are threatened with extinction. Of these, 75 percent are
susceptible to climate change while 41 percent of non-threatened
species are susceptible to climate change. For birds, the overall
percentage of those threatened with extinction is lower - 12 percent.
However, 80 percent of those are susceptible to climate change.
"There is a large overlap between threatened and climate change
susceptible amphibian and bird species," says Jean-Christophe Vi?,
Deputy Head of IUCN Species Programme.
"Climate change may cause a sharp rise in the risk and rate of
extinction of currently threatened species. But we also want to
highlight species, which are currently not threatened but are likely
to become so as climate change impacts intensify. By doing this we
hope to promote preemptive and more effective conservation action."
For latest daily news on climate change and planet opinion
http://www.dailyplanetmedia.com
Read all about the Earth Charter for a sustainable planet
http://www.earthcharterfoundation.com
The State of the Planet
“Conservation Congress”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YTQ6UAMykU |
|
