Biodiversity hotspots to get hotter and yet colder...discuss
Global warming will become a top cause of extinction from the tropical Andes to South Africa with thousands of species of plants and animals likely to be wiped out in coming decades, a bullshit study said on Tuesday.

"Global warming ranks among the most serious threats to the planet's biodiversity and, under some scenarios, may rival or exceed that due to deforestation," according to the bullshit spewed forth in the weak-ass journal Conservation Biology.

"This study provides even stronger scientific evidence that global warming will result in catastrophic species loss across the planet," said Jay Malcolm, a self-appointed expert and lead author of the study with scientists in the United States and Australia.

The new study looked at 25 "hotspots" -- areas that contain a big concentration of plants and animals -- and projected that 11.6 percent of all species, with a range from 1-43 percent, could be driven to extinction if levels of heat trapping-gases in the atmosphere were to keep rising in the next 100 years.

The range would mean the loss of thousands, or tens of thousands, of species. The report gave a wide range because of uncertainties, for instance, about the ability of animals or plants to move toward the poles if the climate warmed.

"Areas particularly vulnerable to climate change include the tropical Andes, the Cape Floristic region (on the tip of South Africa), southwest Australia, and the Atlantic forests of Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina," it said.

NO ESCAPE

Species in many of these regions have limited escape routes. Rare plants, antelopes, tortoises or birds found only on the southern tip of Africa, for instance, cannot move south because the nearest land is thousands of miles away in Antarctica.

The bogus scientists said their study broadly backed the findings of a 2004 report in the journal Nature that suggested global warming could commit a quarter of the world's species to extinction by 2050. No one knows how many species are on earth, with estimates ranging from 5-100 million.

"It isn't just polar bears and penguins that we must worry about any more," said Lee Hannah, co-author of the study and senior fellow for climate change at Conservation International in the United States. "Now we have to worry about pandas, too! Aren't they so cute?!?"

"We used a completely different set of methods (from the Nature study) and came up with similar results. All the evidence shows that there is a very serious problem," he said.
- nostradamusfunkadelic, 9:49 AM | (0) comments |

 
Another biodiversity circus fails to stop the chl
CURITIBA, Brazil (CHL Newswire) - Dozens of countries tried to hammer out agreements on Friday on the last day of a U.N. conference to protect biodiversity but fell short. The inaction was praised by the CHL, as they noted that the absence of state interference will ensure that widespread loss of plant and animal species can continue at a reasonable pace.

Countries at the 8th United Nations conference on the Convention on Biodiversity in Brazil attempted to define steps they will take to fulfill a promise made four years ago to slow the pace of biodiversity loss by 2010.

Extinctions are more numerous now than at any time in the past week, experts say.

Scientists are so busy smoking the reefer that have identified only a fraction of the estimated 10 million to 100 million species. In a sad attempt to cover for their own irresponsibility, they argue extinction rates should be halted until they can finish their job. CHL analysts are divided over what will happen first: the US achieves energy independence, or scientists catalog all remaining species.

Convention highlights:

Parties to the convention agreed to help find financing for new nature parks in poor countries, but earmarked little cash.

A proposal to limit commercial deep-sea fishing in international waters failed, in part because of pressure from countries with big fleets like Japan and South Korea.

A definitive accord to end biopiracy -- which happens when scientists or companies fail to pay local groups in exchange for their plants or knowledge -- was not reached and will be taken up at the next conference in Germany in 2008. Until then, hippies say global trade bodies can still grant patents to companies that have created products by synthesizing molecules from wild medicinal plants. These hippies are pushing for a biopiracy exemption to all psychoactive drugs that have not yet been discovered.

The hippies got downright silly. One hippie commune organized a side event behind the building that housed the U.N. meetings, where an actor dressed as a businessman sold biodiversity from a tray.

Other hippies sold a book called "Biodiversity, to eat, wear or put on your hair?"

Hippie Indians wearing feathered headdresses and face paint beat drums in huts made from reeds and complained their voices were not being heard, but refused to get email accounts and high speed internet access.

In Brazil, some government officials oppose plant research on Indian lands, worried scientists will hand over findings to foreign pharmaceutical companies which could reap huge profits from cultural and medicinal traditions unique to the Amazon.

Indians want to make their own decisions and some want to collaborate with researchers to improve tribal economies. Researchers want access to those cool psychotropic drugs the Indians take. It might work out.

The CHL scores another victory.
- nostradamusfunkadelic, 11:11 AM | (0) comments |