Red List Finds 12,000 Species Endangered
Worldwide
Tuesday, November 18, 2003
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IUCN-The
World Conservation Union has added another 2,000 species
to its annual Red List of the world's most endangered
animals and plants, bringing the number of imperiled
species to more than 12,000, BBC Online reports.
Many
native animals and plants on islands such as the Seychelles
and the Galapagos are being driven to extinction by
invasive species, the group says (Alex Kirby, BBC
Online, Nov. 18).
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According
to the Swiss-based intergovernmental organization, humans
are largely to blame for the increased threat to island
species, Reuters reports.
"Places
such as the Galapagos, Hawaii and the Seychelles are famed
for their beauty, their diversity of plants, animals and
ecosystems," said Conservation Union Director General
Achim Steiner. "But the Red List tells us that human
activities are leading to a swath of extinctions that could
make these islands ecologically and aesthetically barren"
(Robert Evans, Reuters/Chicago Tribune, Nov. 18).
Species
on the Atlantic islands of Tristan da Cunha, St. Helena
and the Falkland Islands are also threatened by invaders,
grazing animals and habitat loss, the group says.
In
Hawaii, the native plant life faces a "grim" future
because of invasive species, the loss of pollinators that
evolved with native plants and human pressures.
Island
species are not the sole victims. Continental species such
as the Mexican black howler monkey, the variegated spider
monkey and the pied tamarin are also now at risk.
The
giant catfish of the Mekong basin, which can grow up to
10 feet long, has dropped in population by more than 80
percent since 1990 because of overfishing, habitat loss,
and the blocking of its migration routes by dams.
Countries
with the highest numbers of threatened birds and animals
include Indonesia, India, Brazil, China and Peru, while
plant life is most threatened in Ecuador, Malaysia, Indonesia,
Brazil and Sri Lanka (Kirby, BBC Online).
These
are all countries where industrialization, forest clearance
and tourism have risen sharply in recent decades (Evans,
Reuters/Chicago Tribune).
Copyright,
National Journal Group, Year 2003.
