If animal species disappear, who cares? Lots of people, apparently. There are many ways individuals can help save species - and we can start by changing our lifestyle, writes Dick Ahlstrom
The Iberian lynx and the Mediterranean monk seal teeter on the edge of extinction. The Arctic fox, European mink and north Atlantic right whale follow close behind, but does it matter? Does anyone care?
This planet is well suited to diverse life, but the Earth's changing face naturally produces extinctions. An estimated 99 per cent of all species that ever lived on the planet have become extinct and most if not all currently sharing space here will also disappear over time, to be replaced by something else.
The evolution and gradual domination of the Earth by humans has changed the natural pattern of things, however. Our activities, from house-building to farming, our proclivity for urban living and our insatiable hunger for energy have accelerated species loss.
Biodiversity is disappearing before our very eyes. Amphibians and birds, mammals and fish are being driven out of existence by our demand for land, water and natural resources.
Efforts are underway, however, to reverse this situation and find ways to maintain our lifestyle, while having less of an impact on the species around us.
The World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002 delivered international promises to bring about a significant reduction in biodiversity loss by 2010. The result was the Countdown 2010 Initiative.
The deputy director of the initiative's Brussels based secretariat, Andras Krolopp, comes to Dublin next Monday, March 10th to deliver a public talk about Countdown 2010 and how we can join together to slow biodiversity loss.
He is the keynote speaker at the Postgraduate Ecology Forum 2008, the third in a series of annual meetings that bring together postgraduate researchers in ecology from across Ireland. The scientific side of things takes place on Tuesday and Wednesday, but the talk at Trinity College Dublin on Monday is a chance for the public to learn what they can do to protect biodiversity.
Countdown 2010 is taking place under the aegis of the IUCN, the World Conservation Union. This huge conservation network brings together 83 states and 10,000 scientists and experts from 181 countries. It seeks to promote a changed approach in governments and the wider public through education, research and public outreach. The IUCN is responsible for compiling the famous "Red List of Threatened Species" a global assessment of the risk to individual species and biodiversity generally.
The situation is grave for many species and getting worse, Countdown 2010's director Sebastian Winkler says, "Species are going extinct at a rate up to 100,000 times faster than any time in the past."
This is not something that can be ignored without consequence, he believes. "Biodiversity is the foundation for life on Earth and we are losing that foundation. Harm the foundation and basically the social and commercial pillars will collapse."
"The major driver [ of biodiversity loss] is habitat fragmentation and habitat degradation. The second most important is the introduction of alien species. You wouldn't think it has such an impact on your biodiversity but it is the second most important cause of biodiversity loss," Winkler says.
The Red List includes more than 15,500 species that face varying levels of threat, but Winkler points out that this represents just 3 per cent of the 1.9 million species known to science. Many more species are therefore likely to be under threat.
"Martin Luther King did not start 'I have a nightmare', he started 'I have a dream', Winkler says. "Let's use the strengths we have in the IUCN and turn that into a vibrant movement that allows us to convince others."
The public meeting and lecture on Countdown 2010 takes place in the MacNeill Theatre in Trinity's Hamilton Building. Doors open at 6pm and the event starts with films. Krolopp's talk begins at 7pm and a question-and-answer session afterwards will be chaired by Matthew Jebb from Dublin's National Botanic Gardens. The event is free, but seats will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.
For information about Countdown 2010 see www.countdown2010.org. The IUCN's website is www.iucn.org. The Postgraduate Ecology Forum website is www.pef.ie