- The polar bear and hippopotamus are for
the first time listed as species threatened with extinction by the world's
biodiversity agency.
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- They are included in the Red List of
Threatened Species published by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) which
names more than 16,000 at-risk species.
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- Many sharks, and freshwater fish in Europe
and Africa, are newly included.
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- The IUCN says loss of biodiversity is
increasing despite a global convention committing governments to stem it.
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- "The 2006 Red List shows a clear
trend; biodiversity loss is increasing, not slowing down," said IUCN
director-general Achim Steiner.
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- "The implications of this trend
for the productivity and resilience of ecosystems and the lives and livelihoods
of billions of people who depend on them are far-reaching."
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- Overall, 16,119 species are included
in this year's Red List, the most detailed and authoritative regular survey
of the health of the plant and animal kingdoms.
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- This represents more than a third of
the total number of species surveyed; the list includes one in three amphibians,
a quarter of coniferous trees, and one in four mammals.
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- Climate and hunting
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- Polar bears are particularly affected
by loss of Arctic ice, which the IUCN attributes to climatic change.
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- IUCN'S SCALE OF THREAT Extinct - Surveys
suggest last known individual has died Critically Endangered - Extreme
high risk of extinction Endangered - Species at very high risk of extinction
Vulnerable - Species at high risk of extinction Near Threatened - May
soon move into above categories Least Concern - Species is widespread
and abundant They need ice floes in order to hunt seals and other prey;
without it, their food supply will decline. There is also evidence that
the snow caves where they raise their young are melting earlier in the
year.
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- Polar bears are listed as Vulnerable
to Extinction based on forecasts that their population will decline by
50% to 100% over the next 50 to 100 years.
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- In the tropics, the common hippopotamus
has entered the Red List for the first time because the population in the
Democratic Republic of Congo has declined spectacularly - by about 95%
in a decade.
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- The country's turbulent political situation
has allowed unregulated hunting for meat and for the ivory in their teeth.
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- "Regional conflicts and political
instability in some African countries have created hardship for many of
the region's inhabitants, and the impact on wildlife has been equally devastating,"
said IUCN chief scientist Jeffrey McNeely.
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- The common hipppo's decline in DRC has
led to a Vulnerable listing even though other African populations including
the largest, in Zambia, have held up well.
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- The much less well known pygmy hippo
has suffered from illegal logging and poor protection in several West African
nations, leading to an upgrade in its status from Vulnerable to Endangered.
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- Marine misery
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- For the first time, this year's Red List
includes a comprehensive region-by-region assessment on some groups of
marine animals.
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- The desperate situation of many sharks
and rays is just the tip of the iceberg Craig Hilton-Taylor, IUCN It shows
that sharks and rays - members of the elasmobranch group of fish - are
disappearing at an unprecedented rate across the globe.
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- About 20% of the 547 species surveyed
merit inclusion on the Red List.
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- Some of these are fish which were once
common on dinner plates in the UK and surrounding countries. The angel
shark has been declared Extinct in the North Sea and Critically Endangered
globally, while the common skate's status has also been upgraded to Critically
Endangered.
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- The IUCN says that with fisheries extending
into ever deeper zones of the ocean which are largely unregulated, populations
of many species are set to decline sharply.
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- "The desperate situation of many
sharks and rays is just the tip of the iceberg," said Craig Hilton-Taylor
of the IUCN Red List Unit.
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- "It is critical that urgent action
to greatly improve management practices and implement conservation measures,
such as agreed non-fishing areas, enforced mesh-size regulations and international
catch limits is taken before it is too late."
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- In the Mediterranean, freshwater fish
are faring even worse than their sea-going counterparts.
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- Fifty-six percent of the 252 species
endemic to the Mediterranean are threatened with extinction, the IUCN says;
while in East Africa, a quarter of freshwater fish are at risk, which could
carry important consequences for a human population highly dependent on
fish for protein.
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- Limited success
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- It is not all doom and gloom.
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- The first optimistic note is that the
overall number of species in this Red List is not significantly higher
than in the last edition published in November 2004, which numbered 15,589
species on the brink.
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- The second is that the number of species
believed to have gone extinct has also not changed significantly.
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- The IUCN notes some marked conservation
successes among the much more frequent stories of a slide towards oblivion.
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- The number of white-tailed eagles has
soared in many European nations, and the bird's status has been downgraded
from Near Threatened to Least Concern.
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- A recent decision by the Indian government
to phase out a veterinary drug which was poisoning the common vulture,
causing numbers to fall by 97%, is also cited as a simple measure which
can bring great success.
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- But the overall message is that the number
and range of species continues to decline, despite the UN Biodiversity
Convention which commits governments to halt the trend by 2010.
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- © BBC MMVI http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/4963526.stm
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