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dam-l Article on Red list for endangered speci (fwd)
Hello everyone!
A journalist colleague, who works at Southam passed this on to me
vis a vis a science radio show I co-produce. As far as I know
this is off of Southam's internet newswire feed.
Thought it might be of some interest to some listmembers
given dams frequent destruction of habitat.
I suppose the folks on the list from IUCN would know more? <hint hint> ;)
cheers!
-Dianne
> Date: Wed, 8 Apr 1998 18:10:00 -0400
>
>
> ECOLOGY:
> One in eight of world¿s plants faces extinction
> By Charles Clover in London
> One in eight of the world¿s plant species is threatened with extinction,
> according to the first Red List of endangered plants published Wednesday.
> The list has taken 2,000 botanists 15 years to compile for the International
> Union for the Conservation of Nature.
> It shows that 33,798 of the 270,000 plants thought to exist are threatened.
> The number of plants at risk amounts to six times the number of threatened
> birds, mammals, fish, amphibians and invertebrates.
> One in 40 plants is listed as highly endangered or at imminent risk of
> extinction.
> Mark Collins, chief executive of the World Conservation Monitoring Centre in
> Cambridge, said: ÅThe world¿s plants are disappearing before our eyes. We
> need to do something about it.Û
> Among the countries with the highest number of endangered species is Turkey,
> where one in five of plant species is threatened. About one in 10 plants in
> Greece is threatened, compared with one per cent in Britain.
> Conservationists hope that the list will help countries - including Brazil
> and Indonesia, where thousands of species are under threat from
> deliberately-started forest fires - to recognise their responsibilities to
> draw up plans to conserve their
> most threatened species under the 1992 Biodiversity Convention.
> The list shows that out of 600 species of dipterocarp - the most valuable
> hardwood trees of the forests of Southeast Asia - 195 species are at risk.
> Many of these species are now threatened by forest fires started by
> developers wanting to
> introduce industrial-scale plantations.
> The world¿s natural resources are distributed in approximately inverse
> proportion to the world¿s material wealth. Britain has around 1,800 plant
> species and Peru around 18,000, according to the latest issue of Nature.
> ÅThe most impoverished people in the world are those who are closest to
> nature,Û Dr Collins said. ÅWhat few resources they have are plants that they
> use for agriculture, fuel, food or medicines. That knowledge is now being
> used by
> pharmaceutical companies.
> ÅThis book tells us that 15 out of 20 species of yew tree - a source of
> cancer-fighting compounds - are threatened. The willow family, known to the
> Romans as a source of aspirin, has 12 per cent of its family under threat.
> How many of these
> plants have compounds we don¿t know about? They are our opportunity for the
> future. We are letting them die out.Û
> The journal Nature said there has been no gold-rush of pharmaceutical
> companies Åbio-prospectingÛ for material which could be used in genetic
> engineering of crops and medicines. It said such exploration is at an early
> stage, and no one wants to
> invest in gathering wild genes they do not want to use.
> Stephen Blackmore of London¿s Natural History Museum said the alleged value
> of plants for drug development was Åhyped upÛ by conservationists and was Åa
> poorly developed argument for biodiversity conservationÛ.
> The list, compiled by IUCN in association with leading botanical institutions
> worldwide, shows that 380 species have become extinct in the wild, and 371
> species are listed as Åextinct/endangeredÛ, meaning they are probably extinct
> but extinction
> has not been formally recorded.
>