15,589 Species Face Extinction - 1/3 Of Amphibians, Half Of Turtles . . .

[hatrack]

The scale of the extinction threat facing animals and plants is made clear in the latest Red List from the IUCN-The World Conservation Union. The leading environmental information network says 15,589 species are now known to be in a perilous position.

Science has understood for some years that an eighth of all birds and a quarter of all mammals are in jeopardy. But the latest Red List shows a third of amphibians and almost 50% of turtles and tortoises are on the brink, too. The IUCN, which can call on the expertise of some 10,000 scientists across the globe, believes the threat facing global biodiversity is escalating.

It lists the 15,589 species - 7,266 animals and 8,323 plants and lichens - as either Critically Endangered, Endangered or Vulnerable. It is an increase of more than 3,000. "The fact that we know more makes the situation look worse, of course, because we can list more and more species in trouble. But that isn't why the trend is accelerating - it is a real phenomenon," Dr Simon Stuart, who has authored a Global Species Assessment (GSA) to accompany the Red List, told BBC News.

The GSA shows trends in biodiversity over four years since the last major analysis was done in 2000. It highlights in particular the trouble now facing amphibians and cycads, an ancient group of plants. "A lot of cycads are valuable in the horticultural trade; people want to collect them. Many have small distributions anyway, so economic and habitat loss is the last straw. Some are down to one individual."

EDIT

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4013719.stm

[More Than A Feeling]

1. What can be done to reverse this trend?

It seems clear that according to this article that there is a loss of biodiversity. It also seems clear that humans are a significant cause of this loss. The question then becomes: what can people do to reverse the damage, and how do we get people to do those things? Given the many other issues demanding our attention, how do we convince people for whom the environment isn't the highest priority that this is worth spending money on?

I don't have any of these answers. Anyone else have any thoughts on this?

[blindpig]

2. things we can do

1) stop breeding like rats. And that goes for EVERYBODY except for indigenous populations in danger of extinction. Indeed, we must reverse the growth of human population by encouraging non-breeding and one child families until a carrying capacity level to be determined(perhaps 1-2 billion) is reached.
2)redistribution of wealth. Until the basic needs of the poor are met they will take what they need from the environment. On a global scale we of the West, and Americans in particular, are resource pigs. We're not going to like it but I don't see an alternative.
3)develop a closed system economy. Of course, it will not be a true closed system, considering the sun, but as closed as possible. We must dispose our throw-away culture by making "durable goods" truly durable, lasting decades and recycling everything else from industrial processes to consumer goods. Landfills should become an anachronism.
I doubt that any of this will happen.

[Dogmudgeon]

3. Number Four:

Watch the monkeys fly out of our collective butt.

You're correct. None of your remedies will be so much as tried.

Nature itself will correct the imbalance -- probably with a one-two punch of an ice age (mini or otherwise) to re-sink the excess heat and carbon, and a massive human die-off from famine and disease.

"Carrying capacity" actually has been determined, several times. The most generally accepted figure is 500 million - 1 billion.

--bkl