Extinction Crisis of Primary Concern at IUCN Congress

BANGKOK, Thailand, November 18, 2004 (ENS) - The world’s largest conservation gathering opened in Bangkok Wednesday to hear new evidence of an escalating global species extinction crisis. The IUCN - The World Conservation Union introduced its latest Red List of Threatened Species at the conference, showing that one in every eight bird species and one in every four species of mammals are known to be in jeopardy.

A total of 15,589 species face extinction, the 2004 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species reveals, including one in three amphibians and almost half of all freshwater turtles. But these figures underestimate the total number of threatened species as they are based on an assessment of less than three percent of the world’s 1.9 million described species.

Her Majesty Queen Sirikit welcomed the IUCN delegates to her country. (Photo courtesy Thailand.com)

In recognition of her lifelong commitment to global conservation, Her Imperial Highness Princess Takamado of Japan, honorary president of BirdLife International, presented the IUCN Gold Medal to Queen Sirikit.

“We need to build a stronger constituency for conservation. We need to ensure that we have the support from the millions of people living on the ground whose lives are totally dependent on biodiversity, and the concerned government agencies,” said Princess Takamado.

Dr. Thaksin Shinawatra, Prime Minister of Thailand encouraged the 4,000 delegates to use the Congress "for sharing information and experiences" among the IUCN's members and stakeholders "to define appropriate ways to bring about global sustainable development, particularly through the conservation and sustainable use of natural resources."

Yolanda Kakabadse of Ecuador is president of the IUCN. (Photo courtesy IUCN)

Yolanda Kakabadse, president of IUCN, said the organization is still growing. “We have united in voluntary agreements to conserve nature and care for the wellbeing of people. Every day, our members are diversifying in number and in kind: empowering people and communities, developing capacities, reaching more international agreements, and designing more public outreach programs,” she said.

Challenges include the need to provide the knowledge and information on which good decisions are built, and to stop the loss of biodiversity, Kakabadse reminded the delegates.

The 2004 assessment shows that threatened species are often concentrated in densely populated areas in Asia and parts of Africa. A major conservation challenge will be to "reconcile the demands of large numbers of people on the environment, whilst protecting the biodiversity upon which so many people’s livelihoods depend," the IUCN said in a statement today.

The Slender Loris, Loris tardigradus, from Sri Lanka is listed as endangered due to loss of its forest habitat. (Photo © Anna Nekaris courtesy IUCN)

People, either directly or indirectly, are the main reason for most species’ declines. Habitat destruction and degradation are the leading threats but other pressures include overexploitation for food, pets, and medicine, introduced species, pollution and disease. Climate change is increasingly recognized as a serious threat.

Achim Steiner, IUCN’s Director General, said, “It is clear that the situation facing our species is serious and getting worse. We can continue to assess and bemoan the loss of the world’s biodiversity or we can act! We must refocus and rethink the way in which society must respond to this global threat."

Since the release of the 2003 Red List, more than 15,633 new entries have been added and 3,579 species reassessed.

The Alerce, Fitzroya cupressoides, is confined to southern Chile and Argentina and is listed as endangered. One of the largest trees in temperate South America the species has been heavily logged since the end of the 16th century. (Photo © Cristian Echeverria courtesy IUCN)

A total of 784 plant and animal species are now recorded as extinct with a further 60 known only in cultivation or captivity.

All is not lost, Steiner said, in an attempt to encourage positive actions to conserve the species that remain. “While most threats to biodiversity are human-driven," he said, "human actions alone can prevent many species from becoming extinct. There are many examples of species being brought back from the brink including the southern white rhino and black-footed ferret, and thousands of dedicated people around the world are doing their utmost to reverse the extinction rate."

“But this cannot continue to be the task of the environmental community alone," Steiner urged. "Governments and business must commit to these efforts as well."

The private sector must play a key role, in partnership with government, civil society and other stakeholders, to ensure development in Asia and the Pacific is environmentally sustainable, agreed Dr. Peter King of the Asian Development Bank during an IUCN workshop in Bangkok today. King is an advisor to the director general of the Bank's Regional and Sustainable Development Department.

Asia-Pacific's corporations are usually cast as the villains when assigning blame for the rampant pollution and environmental degradation across this region, King acknowledged.

Addressing the Global Synthesis Workshop on Markets, Business and the Environment: Strengthening Corporate Social Responsibility, Law and Policy, King said, "We are entering an Anthropocene era, in which humans have become so dominant that our species, for the first time, has begun to influence all global ecosystem services."

"Nowhere is this more obvious than the Asia and Pacific region, where continuing population growth and demand for resources combined with emerging middle-class affluent consumer societies will impose unbearable burdens on the planet."

"A sustainable future is not globally possible without finding a way to make development in Asia and the Pacific sustainable," King said. "The rest of the world will not be able to compensate for unsustainable development in this region."

The Palila, Loxioides bailleui, is an endangered finch found only on Hawaii, USA. Abundant until the turn of the 20th century, it is now restricted to limited subalpine forest habitat which is in decline due to overgrazing by feral goats and pigs and the invasion of introduced weeds. (Photo © Jack Jeffrey Photography courtesy IUCN)

AEO 2005 will focus on corporate responsibility for environmental performance in Asia and the Pacific. It aims to provide a better understanding of how governments and other stakeholders can partner with business to lessen the burden of regulatory control and to help create new business opportunities. It will offer guidance on how to harness the power of corporations to address the massive environmental challenges in the region.

The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the IUCN signed a joint declaration today in Bangkok, to use NASA satellite data to help in worldwide conservation efforts.

NASA's satellite data, images and technical expertise will be used by IUCN members and commissions to help improve the quality and effectiveness of environmental decisionmaking, in an effort to improve conservation outcomes.

"This opportunity for NASA to help advance conservation efforts globally reinforces our vision to use our unique vantage from space to improve life here on Earth," said Ghassem Asrar, NASA's deputy associate administrator for science.

The Third IUCN World Conservation Congress will continue through November 25 under the theme “People and Nature – Only One World.”