Thousands of species ‘are facing extinction’

HUMANITY’S exploitation of wildlife and destruction of habitats is threatening to kill off more than 15,500 species of plants and animals - from frogs to sharks - unless urgent steps are taken to ensure their survival, conservationists warned yesterday.

The World Conservation Union said ahead of international talks held every four years to share research and draft protection guidelines that species are declining at unprecedented rates.

“What we are presenting to you today is serious, it is extremely serious, and it is a wake-up call to the world,” said Achim Steiner, the group’s director general.

The warning probably underestimates the problem because it takes into account just 3% of the world’s known species, said David Brackett, the head of the group’s Species Survival Commission.

More than 6,000 government officials, scientists, business representatives and conservationists have gathered in Bangkok for the conference.

Scientists will present research on a variety of species and ecosystems, ranging from tropical coral reefs to the Himalayas.

At least 15,589 species are facing extinction, according to the Global Species Assessment, a report from the agency that shows trends in biodiversity over the past four years since it conducted its last major survey. It draws together data from more than 10,000 scientists.

Nearly a third of all amphibians and almost half of all freshwater turtles are in danger of being wiped out, while new research confirmed earlier findings that one in eight birds and a quarter of all mammals are in jeopardy of becoming extinct, it said.

Some 32% of amphibian populations - including some frogs - are suffering catastrophic declines, while about a quarter of cone-bearing trees and shrubs and 52% of cycads - an ancient group of plants - could vanish, according to the report, known as the Red List.

Nearly one in five of the sharks and rays are also listed as endangered.

Governments increasingly recognise that the loss of species “is also a threat to their cultural and economic sustainability” and must devote more resources to protecting their wildlife and natural habitats, Mr Brackett said.

“The major threats are all from humans - habitat loss and degradation, over-exploitation, whether it is for food, for pets, for medicine, introduced species, pollution, disease... but increasingly also climate change.”

The 2004 species assessment shows that threatened species are often concentrated in densely populated areas, particularly Asia.

The World Conservation Union, created in 1948 consists of 82 member countries as well as organisations and scientists from 181 nations.