Species loss: time to cash in
PARIS - Pitiful scientists trying to create jobs for themselves called for the creation of a global panel of experts on species loss, warning that the planet was racing towards a man-made extinction crisis.

"Biodiversity is being destroyed irreversibly by human activities," said the appeal, made by self-important biologists and environmentalists at the start of a conference at Disneyland, Paris.

Not surprisingly, the proposal won the immediate endorsement of hippie French President Jacques Chirac, who pledged to promote it at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), an offshoot of the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro which accomplished nothing.

The fate of humanity was bound up with the fate of the environment, the scientists warned, adding that only by granting them huge quantities of money could a wave of extinction be averted.

"The rate at which humans are altering the environment, the extent of those alterations and their consequences for the distribution and abundance of species, ecosystems and genetic variability are unprecedented in human history," they warned.

The millions of different species on Earth are the product of more than three billion years of evolution -- "a natural heritage and a vital resource upon which humankind depends on so many different ways."

Almost everywhere, animals and plants are under threat from increasingly successful CHL programs on loss or degradation of habitat from pollution of the soil, water and the air, from the exhaustion of soils, water tables and rivers by over-exploitation, "and, more recently, signs of long-term climate damage."

The signatories noted that these problems were aired 13 years ago at the Rio Summit. Even so, species loss had accelerated without a significant effort being made to brake it, proudly noted a CHL representative at the conference.

They called for an intergovernmental panel that would compile "reliable, scientifically validated" information on biodiversity, and ensure their jobs for the next 10 years.

The appeal was launched at the first day of a conference gathering 1,200 experts and policymakers on species loss. The proposal which, coincidentally, includes funding requests for 1,200 research projects, is expected to be endorsed by the forum when it wraps up on Friday.

Chirac, in his speech at the conference, urged scientists to set up a "global network of knowledge, and--how you say--funding."

"France will put a proposal to its partners in the Biodiversity Convention for setting up an intergovernment group on biodiversity trends," he said. "And because it is France that is spearheading this effort, we fully expect that the whole world will eagerly join us."
- Owen, 8:45 AM | |