Here's Hoping the UN Can Keep its New Year's Resolution to Promote Biodiversity

Are Polar Bears, Tigers and the Beluga Whale Headed for Extinction as We Enter a New Decade?

GREEN IS GOOD
by Margaret Smith

Another year, another resolution. Some of us vowed to be nicer, others want to spend less money and many just went with the old standby of losing weight. The United Nations may have topped us all, though, when they declared 2010 the International Year of Biodiversity. And as thrilling as the 2009 International Year of Natural Fibers was -- following the all-important International Year of the Potato in 2008 -- this one may be worth watching out for.

The purpose is simple: to raise public awareness on the importance of biodiversity and the consequences of its loss to human well-being. The International Year's official launch will take place next Monday, Jan. 11, in Berlin, followed by a meeting at the Paris headquarters of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization later that month, the first high-profile event of the International Year. It couldn't have come at a better time, though, and not only because some experts say the world's plant and animal species are disappearing at 1,000 times the rate of natural progression.

For starters, it has the potential to spark a worldwide movement of environmental change right after the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference failed to make any serious results. Today climate change is one of the largest contributing factors to endangerment, along with habitat loss and poaching.

The new International Year also marks one of most spectacularly broken, if least well-known, of all environmental promises, though. As the UK's Telegraph notes, in 2001 European Union heads of government said they would aim to "halt" human destruction of the world's wildlife and wild places by 2010. The year after that world leaders met at the Johannesburg Earth Summit and committed themselves to a "significant reduction" in the rate of loss by the same date.

Needless to say their promise didn't pan out as well as they hoped. Some estimates now state that by the end of the next century half of the 13 million or so forms of life on this planet will disappear, the largest extinction since the age of dinosaurs more than 65 million years ago. Examine the habitats where these species live and the numbers get even worse. The Telegraph also reports that about 25 billion tons of topsoil are eroded away every year, a third of coral reefs are now seriously damaged and in the past three centuries about 40 percent of the world's forests have been felled.

So how can we fix the problem? What's the answer? In a recent report the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) says that simple steps such as reducing individual energy use, spreading the word about the effects of climate change on world species and supporting wildlife and conservation where you live can provide results.

The report, "Species and Climate Change," highlights 10 well-known species that are under threat of endangerment in order to demonstrate the impact climate change is to have on wildlife and the habitats in which they live. Those chosen include the leatherback turtle, arctic fox, beluga whale, koala, salmon, staghorn corals, ringed seal, emperor penguin, quiver tree and clownfish. Throughout the year the IUCN will also issue an extensive daily portrait of 365 animals, birds and plants that are under extinction.

In early December the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) also issued their annual list of endangered species to watch out for. At the top of this year's "10 to Watch in 2010" list is the tiger, highlighted by the fact that in the Chinese Zodiac Calender this year is the Year of the Tiger. According to the WWF, new studies indicate that today there are only an estimated 3,200 tigers left on the planet. Tigers also occupy less than seven percent of their original range, which has decreased by 40 percent over the past 10 years. The culprits of this tragedy include accelerated deforestation and poaching. In Asia, tigers are still poached for bones, skin and other body parts that are in high demand in Asia for traditional medicinal uses.

"We have an urgent window of opportunity in which to step up and pull back some of the world's most splendid animals from the brink of extinction," said Dr. Sybille Klenzendorf, WWF's Managing Director of Species Conservation. "We urge everyone who wants to live in a world with tigers, polar bears, and pandas to make it their New Year's resolution to save these amazing and threatened species before it's too late."

An even sadder story is that of the Javen Rhinoceros, another animal on the WWF's list. Today the animal is considered the most endangered large mammal in the world. Only two populations are known to exist in the wild, making for a total of fewer than 60 animals. They've been brought to the brink of extinction largely due to the conversion of forest habitat to farmland throughout Southeast Asia. Other animals on the WWF's list include polar bears, the Pacific walrus, magellanic penguin, leatherback turtle, bluefin tuna, mountain gorilla, monarch butterfly and the giant panda.

So maybe you won't lose as much weight as you want to this year, and maybe you won't even end up spending less money. Hundreds of animals, however, could lose their lives. Whether you call it the Year of the Tiger or the International Year of Biodiversity, make it stand for something more.

GREEN IS GOOD