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Guess what: mammals are in crisis
Alejandro Kirk
One in four mammals of planet Earth are at risk of disappearing forever, says the newest issue of "The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species." |
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The first such comprehensive survey since 1996, the list focuses on mammals, but it also includes nearly 45,000 species of all kinds, of which almost 17,000 are threatened with extinction, IUCN Director General Julia Marton-Lefevre said at a press conference here Monday.
The main threat to mammals come from the loss of their habitat due to subsistence agriculture, which is quickly degrading forests and soils in tropical developing countries. Up to 40 percent of the planet's mammals are in danger as a result of this poverty-related cause and "is most extreme in Central and South America, West, Eaast and central Africa, Madagascar, and in South and Southeast Asia", IUCN says.
"The Red List is for all to use and vote to the right people," said Jane Smart, head of IUCN Species Programme when asked about governments and corporations responsibilities in protecting animal habitats, a policy assessment not included in the Red List.
On the subject, Holly Dublin, Chair of IUCN Species Survival Commission, stressed that "we have a world economy driving (the planet) against conservation," and reported that the World Bank is gradually including clauses to protect forests and protected areas from degradation among their conditions to provide loans to developing countries.
Speaking to TerraViva, she later admitted that such approach, while helping in protecting habitats, it also adds to the package of conditionalities imposed on developing countries struggling to achieve living standards similar to those of develeoped countries.
In this regard, she added, the world financial crisis unleashed by the US credit markets might have taught "a lesson or two" on the need to dramatically change lifestyles if the human race does not want to become redundant.
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| Farewell: TerraViva correspondents draw interesting conclusions. |
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