THE HAGUE, June 3 (Reuters) – A senior United Nations official urged
a 171-nation U.N. wildlife forum on Sunday to take action to help
protect animals from climate change.
REUTERS FOUNDATION – Alternet
03 Jun 2007 17:14:01 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Anna Mudeva
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)
will also discuss measures at its two week-week meeting to help
commercially valuable animal and tree species threatened by over-use.
A U.N. report has said human activities were wiping out three animal
or plant species every hour and has urged the world to do more to
slow the worst spate of extinctions since the dinosaurs by 2010.
Global warming, blamed mainly on human use of fossil fuels, is widely
expected to add to existing threats and wreck habitats like the
Amazon rain forest.
“CITES is not a forum for discussing climate change but decisions
taken here do have an impact on species in a climatically challenged
world,” Shafgat Kakaklhel, deputy head of the U.N. Environment
Programme, told the opening session.
“We will need robust species populations if they are to survive
rising temperatures and more extremes,” he said.
RAPID DEPLETION
Many of the 37 proposals to be discussed at the meeting in The Hague
reflect growing concern about rapid depletion of marine and forest
resources.
Commercially valuable species like the spiny dogfish, the porbeagle
shark and the European eel — all threatened by over-use — feature
high on the agenda.
The focus will also be on coral jewellery, wooden musical instruments
and furniture. Threatened species like pink or red coral and rosewood
and cedar trees are facing tighter trade regulations.
Elephants are expected to trigger heated debate. African countries
are split over the protection of the elephant, with some saying
elephant populations have grown at an unsustainable rate.
CITES is widely credited with stemming the slaughter of the African
elephant by imposing a ban on the international ivory trade in 1989.
But scientists say the killing of elephants for their tusks, mainly
in central Africa, has reached levels not seen since 1989 because of
Asian-run crime syndicates.
The talks will also help shape the future of CITES, which has banned
trade in 530 animal species and more than 300 plant species.
CITES also regulates trade in 4,460 animal species and 28,000 plant species.
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