World fails to stop extinction

(Telegraph 29-Apr Louise Gray)

World leaders have failed to prevent the extinction of species despite pumping millions of pounds into nature conservation, according to a new study. In 2002 the Convention on Biological Diversity made a promise to slow the rate of biodiversity loss around the globe by 2010. But the United Nations body has now admitted in the leading journal Science that the target will not be met.

Stuart Butchart, of the UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre, said if anthing the situation has got worse with animal populations down by a third since 1930. He blamed the growing human population that is driving the development of cities, pollution, climate change and the intensification of agriculture. Dr Butchart studied 31 indicators submitted by conservation bodies around the world including wild birds numbers, fish stocks, coral reefs, rainforests and the state of wild animal populations. Key species such as bluefin tuna, tigers, the Pacific walrus and the monarch butterfly continue to decline. "Our analysis shows that governments have failed to deliver on the commitments they made in 2002: biodiversity is still being lost as fast as ever, and we have made little headway in reducing the pressures on species, habitats and ecosystems," he said.

With species extinctions running at about 1,000 times the "natural" or "background" rate, some biologists contend that the world is in the middle of the Earth's sixth great extinction – the previous five stemming from natural events such as asteroid impacts. It has been known for some time that the 2010 target to halt biodiversity loss would not be met, but the article in Science makes the failure official. It is a particular embarrassment as this year is the UN International Year of Biodiversity. The UK Government failed to stop the decline of species like hedgehogs, house sparrows and dormice in its own backyards and other developed nations have also failed to stop species loss despite spending millions on nature reserves and new legislation to stop persecution.

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