Indian Express , Thursday, November 18, 2004

Correspondent : Staff Reporter

BANGKOK, NOVEMBER 17: The Earth is losing species at a rate comparable to the mass extinction of the dinosaurs, environmentalists warn in a report being published today. At least five species have been added to the ‘‘extinct’’ category in the annual Red List drawn up by The World Conservation Union. Nearly 16,000 species are listed as threatened with disappearing, with more than 200 of them already described as ‘‘possibly extinct’’, and almost 3,000 as ‘‘critically endangered’’. The list, compiled by a worldwide network of 8,000 scientists, is regarded as the most authoritative statement of the planet’s biodiversity. Officials of the body said extinctions were happening up to 1,000 times faster than the natural ‘‘background’’ rate. There have been five mass extinctions so far. Chris Hilton-Taylor, the Red List programme officer, said: ‘‘The rate of loss of biodiversity is getting worse. We are facing the sixth extinction.’’ Those lost include the St Helena olive, a tree native to the British Atlantic island, the last surviving specimen of which died in December after attempts to breed from it failed. The others — the golden toad, which lived on a mountain ridge in Costa Rica, the Hawaiian thrush, the Hawaiian crow, and a Malagasy freshwater fish known only by its Latin name, Pantanodon madagascariensis. Two species previously believed to be extinct, the New Zealand storm petrel and the Miller Lake lamprey, an American fish intentionally eliminated from its Oregon home to stop it from eating trout fingerlings, were recategorised after new specimens were discovered. ‘‘What’s happening now is extraordinary, more than anything seen in the fossil record, and it is affecting many more groups,’’ said Simon Stuart, a senior adviser of the union. Human activity is, the body says, responsible for most extinctions and cause of climate change.

SOURCE : Indian Express , Thursday, November 18, 2004