Biodiversity Decline "Alarming" According To Global UN Report

[hatrack]

MONTREAL — "Biodiversity is declining at an alarming rate and human activity is to blame, according to an international report.

The report released Thursday is the second of seven reports billed as the world's largest study of changes to Earth's ecosystems and the impact on humans. It is the result of five years of collaboration between 1,360 experts from 95 countries around the world. Human activity is responsible for a reduction of biodiversity which degrades ecosystems and penalizes other groups of people, especially the poorest who depend most on them, according to the report presented at McGill University in Montreal to mark the International Day for Biological Diversity.

Entitled "Ecosystems and Human Well-being: the Biodiversity Synthesis Report," it was prepared by the U.N. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment with the cooperation of the Convention on Biological Diversity. "The loss of biodiversity is a major barrier to development already and poses increasing risks for future generations," said Walter Reid, the director of the Millennium Assessment, "However, the report shows that the management tools, policies, and technologies do exist to dramatically slow this loss."

According to the report changes in biodiversity due to human activities were more rapid in the past 50 years than at any time in human history, and over the last 100 years species extinction caused by humans has multiplied as much as 1,000 times. Some 12 per cent of birds; 23 per cent of mammals; 25 per cent of conifers and 32 per cent of amphibians are threatened with extinction, and the world's fish stocks have been reduced by an astonishing 90 per cent since the start of industrial fishing."

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http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1116628754297_97/?hub=SciTech

[DemBones DemBones]

1. Not surprising, sadly. Have you seen any definitive news on

the exploding toads in the Hamburg area? I searched here and found one poster claiming that German papers reported that it was found that crows were pecking holes in the toads, which then swelled up and exploded. Not sure I buy that explanation.

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. That's certainly the last explanation given

eg Mystery of exploding toads solved