Biodiversity In Peril, The U.N. Warns

Biological diversity is declining faster than previously estimated, and the trend will eventually threaten “the livelihoods and food security of hundreds of millions of people” unless swift action is taken. That’s the conclusion of the third edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook, published by the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity. Humans are dependent on biological resources for their food supply, air quality, climate control, water purification, pollination, erosion prevention and medicines. Today some 25 percent of the medicines marketed are still derived from or modeled on plant or animal sources. Because the species in an ecosystem depend on one another, any loss can leave the entire system less resilient. A decline in diversity can leave ecosystems and species “more vulnerable to sudden external pressures such as disease and climatic extremes,” the report says. Still, all three measures of biodiversity — genes, species and ecosystems — show declines. Twenty-one percent of all known mammals, 30 percent of all known amphibians, and 12 percent of all known birds now face extinction, according to the Red List Index, a global inventory of plant and animal species cited in the report. Among the causes of biodiversity loss are habitat changes like converting land to agricultural use; excess exploitation of resources, like overfishing; pollution from agricultural nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorous; the arrival of invasive species; and climate change (shrinking Arctic ice and ocean acidification, for example). “The projections are dire,” said Delfin Ganapin of the Global Environment Facility, a group that provides financing for the Convention on Biological Diversity. “This report is saying that we are reaching what’s called ‘tipping points,’ where irreversible damage is going to be done to the planet unless we act now.” The report offers some good news. Almost 170 countries now have national biodiversity strategies, and some conservation measures are showing results. Mr. Ganapin cited the example of New York City, which he said spent $1 billion to rehabilitate and protect the Catskill-Delaware watershed. That initiative is estimated to be saving the city $4 billion to $6 billion for water treatment and transport, he said. The data in the study is based on about 120 national reports submitted by members, as well as current scientific literature. The report was timed for release in proximity to International Day for Biological Diversity on Saturday. http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/24/biodiversity-in-peril-the-u-n-warns/