http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/arabian-oryx011.html#cr
June 2011. The regal Arabian Oryx (Oryx leucoryx), which was hunted to near extinction, is now facing a more secure future according to the latest update of the IUCN Red List of Threatened SpeciesTM. Its wild population now stands at 1,000 individuals.
"To have brought the Arabian Oryx back from the brink of extinction is a major feat and a true conservation success story, one which we hope will be repeated many times over for other threatened species," says Ms Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak, Director General of the Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi. "It is a classic example of how data from the IUCN Red List can feed into on-the-ground conservation action to deliver tangible and successful results."
Read on...
Showing posts with label Wildlife IUCN. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wildlife IUCN. Show all posts
Monday, June 27, 2011
Saturday, June 25, 2011
High risk of mass extinction in world’s oceans
Creating conditions associated with every previous major extinction
June 2011: The world's oceans are at high risk of an unprecedented number of marine species extinctions, according to an international panel of experts.
The panel's report was the result of a workshop considering the cumulative impact of all stressors affecting the ocean. The experts examined the combined effects of pollution, acidification, ocean warming, over-fishing and hypoxia (deoxygenation).
The scientific panel concluded that:
The combination of stressors on the ocean is creating the conditions associated with every previous major extinction of species in Earth's history.
The speed and rate of degeneration in the ocean is far faster than anyone has predicted.
Many of the negative impacts previously identified are greater than the worst predictions.
Although difficult to assess because of the unprecedented speed of change, the first steps to globally significant extinction may have begun with a rise in the extinction threat to marine species such as reef-forming corals
'The findings are shocking'
Dr Alex Rogers, scientific director of the International Programme on the State of the Ocean (IPSO) which convened the workshop said: ‘The findings are shocking. As we considered the cumulative effect of what humankind does to the ocean the implications became far worse than we had individually realised.
‘This is a very serious situation demanding unequivocal action at every level. We are looking at consequences for humankind that will impact in our lifetime, and worse, our children's and generations beyond that.'
Marine scientists from institutions around the world gathered at Oxford University under the auspices of IPSO and the IUCN. The group reviewed recent research by two world ocean experts and found firm evidence that the effects of climate change, coupled with other human-induced impacts such as over-fishing and nutrient run-off from farming, have already caused a dramatic decline in ocean health.
A new extinction event inevitable if damage continues
Increasing hypoxia (low oxygen levels) and anoxia (absence of oxygen, known as ocean dead zones) combined with warming of the ocean and acidification are the three factors which have been present in every mass extinction event in Earth's history.
There is strong scientific evidence that these three factors are combining in the ocean again, exacerbated by multiple severe stressors. The scientific panel concluded that a new extinction event was inevitable if the current trajectory of damage continues.
The time to protect the blue heart of our planet is now
The report sets out a series of recommendations and calls on states, regional bodies and the United Nations to enact measures to better conserve ocean ecosystems, and in particular demands the urgent adoption of better governance of the largely unprotected high seas which make up the majority of the world's ocean.
Dan Laffoley, Marine Chair of IUCN's World Commission on protected Areas and senior adviser on Marine Science and Conservation for IUCN, and co-author of the report, said: ‘The world's leading experts on oceans are surprised by the rate and magnitude of changes we are seeing.
‘The challenges for the future of the ocean are vast, but unlike previous generations we know what now needs to happen. The time to protect the blue heart of our planet is now, today and urgent.'
Frightening truth about our oceans
Τhe rate at which carbon is being absorbed by the ocean is already far greater now than at the time of the last globally significant extinction of marine species, some 55 million years ago, when up to 50 per cent of some groups of deep-sea animals were wiped out.
A single mass coral bleaching event in 1998 killed 16 per cent of all the world's tropical coral reefs.
Overfishing has reduced some commercial fish stocks and populations of by-catch species by more than 90 per cent.
New science also suggests that pollutants including flame retardant chemicals and synthetic musks found in detergents are being traced in the Polar Seas, and that these chemicals can be absorbed by tiny plastic particles in the ocean which are in turn ingested by marine creatures.
The experts agreed that adding these and other threats together means that the ocean and the ecosystems within it are unable to recover, being constantly bombarded with multiple attacks.
http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/ocean-extinction.html
June 2011: The world's oceans are at high risk of an unprecedented number of marine species extinctions, according to an international panel of experts.
The panel's report was the result of a workshop considering the cumulative impact of all stressors affecting the ocean. The experts examined the combined effects of pollution, acidification, ocean warming, over-fishing and hypoxia (deoxygenation).
The scientific panel concluded that:
The combination of stressors on the ocean is creating the conditions associated with every previous major extinction of species in Earth's history.
The speed and rate of degeneration in the ocean is far faster than anyone has predicted.
Many of the negative impacts previously identified are greater than the worst predictions.
Although difficult to assess because of the unprecedented speed of change, the first steps to globally significant extinction may have begun with a rise in the extinction threat to marine species such as reef-forming corals
'The findings are shocking'
Dr Alex Rogers, scientific director of the International Programme on the State of the Ocean (IPSO) which convened the workshop said: ‘The findings are shocking. As we considered the cumulative effect of what humankind does to the ocean the implications became far worse than we had individually realised.
‘This is a very serious situation demanding unequivocal action at every level. We are looking at consequences for humankind that will impact in our lifetime, and worse, our children's and generations beyond that.'
Marine scientists from institutions around the world gathered at Oxford University under the auspices of IPSO and the IUCN. The group reviewed recent research by two world ocean experts and found firm evidence that the effects of climate change, coupled with other human-induced impacts such as over-fishing and nutrient run-off from farming, have already caused a dramatic decline in ocean health.
A new extinction event inevitable if damage continues
Increasing hypoxia (low oxygen levels) and anoxia (absence of oxygen, known as ocean dead zones) combined with warming of the ocean and acidification are the three factors which have been present in every mass extinction event in Earth's history.
There is strong scientific evidence that these three factors are combining in the ocean again, exacerbated by multiple severe stressors. The scientific panel concluded that a new extinction event was inevitable if the current trajectory of damage continues.
The time to protect the blue heart of our planet is now
The report sets out a series of recommendations and calls on states, regional bodies and the United Nations to enact measures to better conserve ocean ecosystems, and in particular demands the urgent adoption of better governance of the largely unprotected high seas which make up the majority of the world's ocean.
Dan Laffoley, Marine Chair of IUCN's World Commission on protected Areas and senior adviser on Marine Science and Conservation for IUCN, and co-author of the report, said: ‘The world's leading experts on oceans are surprised by the rate and magnitude of changes we are seeing.
‘The challenges for the future of the ocean are vast, but unlike previous generations we know what now needs to happen. The time to protect the blue heart of our planet is now, today and urgent.'
Frightening truth about our oceans
Τhe rate at which carbon is being absorbed by the ocean is already far greater now than at the time of the last globally significant extinction of marine species, some 55 million years ago, when up to 50 per cent of some groups of deep-sea animals were wiped out.
A single mass coral bleaching event in 1998 killed 16 per cent of all the world's tropical coral reefs.
Overfishing has reduced some commercial fish stocks and populations of by-catch species by more than 90 per cent.
New science also suggests that pollutants including flame retardant chemicals and synthetic musks found in detergents are being traced in the Polar Seas, and that these chemicals can be absorbed by tiny plastic particles in the ocean which are in turn ingested by marine creatures.
The experts agreed that adding these and other threats together means that the ocean and the ecosystems within it are unable to recover, being constantly bombarded with multiple attacks.
http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/ocean-extinction.html
Friday, October 29, 2010
Cycads face extinction
Johannesburg - The cycad, which is the world's oldest living seed plant and has outlived the dinosaurs, faces extinction if people continue to wrench the plants from their wild habitats and plant them in gardens.
This is according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature on Wednesday.
In an address to delegates at the Biodiversity Convention in Japan, the IUCN said that cycads were the most threatened group of organisms to have been assessed by them so far.
The global conservation assessment of 308 cycad species shows that their status has declined from 53% threatened in 2003 to 62% threatened in 2010. The South African National Biodiversity Institute said the country was one of the world centres of cycad diversity with 39 species.
"It is also one of the global hotspots for threatened cycads with 68% of South Africa's cycads threatened with extinction compared to the global average of 62%. From South Africa 31% are classified as critically endangered, compared to the global average of 17%.
"South Africa also has three of the four species classified as extinct in the wild, two of which have become extinct in the wild in the period between 2003 and 2010," the institute said.
The removal of cycads from the wild for private collections has resulted in two species becoming extinct in the wild.
Bark harvesting for the medicinal trade has increased in South Africa and has also resulted in declines in cycad populations, even resulting in the complete loss of populations in KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape, said the institute.
"We have seen dramatic declines in some species over ten years, one of them from around 700 plants to fewer than 100, and this is going to result in extinctions," it said.
- SAPA
http://www.news24.com/SciTech/News/Cycads-face-extinction-20101027
This is according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature on Wednesday.
In an address to delegates at the Biodiversity Convention in Japan, the IUCN said that cycads were the most threatened group of organisms to have been assessed by them so far.
The global conservation assessment of 308 cycad species shows that their status has declined from 53% threatened in 2003 to 62% threatened in 2010. The South African National Biodiversity Institute said the country was one of the world centres of cycad diversity with 39 species.
"It is also one of the global hotspots for threatened cycads with 68% of South Africa's cycads threatened with extinction compared to the global average of 62%. From South Africa 31% are classified as critically endangered, compared to the global average of 17%.
"South Africa also has three of the four species classified as extinct in the wild, two of which have become extinct in the wild in the period between 2003 and 2010," the institute said.
The removal of cycads from the wild for private collections has resulted in two species becoming extinct in the wild.
Bark harvesting for the medicinal trade has increased in South Africa and has also resulted in declines in cycad populations, even resulting in the complete loss of populations in KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape, said the institute.
"We have seen dramatic declines in some species over ten years, one of them from around 700 plants to fewer than 100, and this is going to result in extinctions," it said.
- SAPA
http://www.news24.com/SciTech/News/Cycads-face-extinction-20101027
Cycads face extinction
Johannesburg - The cycad, which is the world's oldest living seed plant and has outlived the dinosaurs, faces extinction if people continue to wrench the plants from their wild habitats and plant them in gardens.
This is according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature on Wednesday.
In an address to delegates at the Biodiversity Convention in Japan, the IUCN said that cycads were the most threatened group of organisms to have been assessed by them so far.
The global conservation assessment of 308 cycad species shows that their status has declined from 53% threatened in 2003 to 62% threatened in 2010. The South African National Biodiversity Institute said the country was one of the world centres of cycad diversity with 39 species.
"It is also one of the global hotspots for threatened cycads with 68% of South Africa's cycads threatened with extinction compared to the global average of 62%. From South Africa 31% are classified as critically endangered, compared to the global average of 17%.
"South Africa also has three of the four species classified as extinct in the wild, two of which have become extinct in the wild in the period between 2003 and 2010," the institute said.
The removal of cycads from the wild for private collections has resulted in two species becoming extinct in the wild.
Bark harvesting for the medicinal trade has increased in South Africa and has also resulted in declines in cycad populations, even resulting in the complete loss of populations in KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape, said the institute.
"We have seen dramatic declines in some species over ten years, one of them from around 700 plants to fewer than 100, and this is going to result in extinctions," it said.
- SAPA
http://www.news24.com/SciTech/News/Cycads-face-extinction-20101027
This is according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature on Wednesday.
In an address to delegates at the Biodiversity Convention in Japan, the IUCN said that cycads were the most threatened group of organisms to have been assessed by them so far.
The global conservation assessment of 308 cycad species shows that their status has declined from 53% threatened in 2003 to 62% threatened in 2010. The South African National Biodiversity Institute said the country was one of the world centres of cycad diversity with 39 species.
"It is also one of the global hotspots for threatened cycads with 68% of South Africa's cycads threatened with extinction compared to the global average of 62%. From South Africa 31% are classified as critically endangered, compared to the global average of 17%.
"South Africa also has three of the four species classified as extinct in the wild, two of which have become extinct in the wild in the period between 2003 and 2010," the institute said.
The removal of cycads from the wild for private collections has resulted in two species becoming extinct in the wild.
Bark harvesting for the medicinal trade has increased in South Africa and has also resulted in declines in cycad populations, even resulting in the complete loss of populations in KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape, said the institute.
"We have seen dramatic declines in some species over ten years, one of them from around 700 plants to fewer than 100, and this is going to result in extinctions," it said.
- SAPA
http://www.news24.com/SciTech/News/Cycads-face-extinction-20101027
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)