Going, going...

Forest and Bird, Issue 279, 1 February 1996, Page 10

Going, going...

FLOWERING PLANTS and vertebrate animals are disappearing at 50 to 100 times the average expected natural rate and at least 5,400 animals and 4,000 plant species face extinction. This is the message from the most comprehensive report yet produced on the state of global biodiversity. It was prepared by the United Nations Environment Program for the second Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity which met in Jakarta last November. Human behaviour is condemning tens of thousands of plants and animals to extinction, said the report. The world had an estimated 13 to 14 million species of organisms and, of that total, just 13 percent have been scientifically described. Because of loss and modification of wildlife habitat worldwide, tens of thousands of species, most never identified, are sure to vanish, said the report. Besides species, the

world was also rapidly losing genes and ecosystems. Over the next 25 years, tropical forests could lose species at 1,000 to 10,000 times the natural rate. Even if some threatened species survive many would lose distinct populations and genetic differences.