Guest Author - Violette DeSantis

Conservation efforts are being discussed in Barcelona Spain where the IUCN World Conservation Congress is meeting. Nature seems to be a top priority as they focus on protecting nature in the belief that the outcome of the existence of animal and plant life directly reflects on the life of man.

8,000 leaders of government and industry related fields have come together to discuss this topic along with the issue of climate change and the environmental management. The event will take place for the next ten days and having only just begun, has already released the 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

The Red List of Threatened Species covers a wide range of plant and animal life. The purpose of the list is to tell us how many threatened species there are. The leaders and scientists are discussing what it means if certain animals or plants are in danger of extinction.

Below is an abbreviated list of various categories of animal and plant life and the percentage identified as threatened in 2007.

Vertebrates:
Mammals – 20 %
Birds – 12%
Reptiles – 5%
Amphibians – 29%
Fishes – 4%

Invertebrates:
Insects – 0.07%
Molluscs – 1.21%
Crustaceans – 1.15%
Corals – 0.23%
Others – 0.03%

Plants:
Mosses – 0.53%
Ferns and allies – 1%
Gymnosperms – 33%
Dicotyledons – 4%
Monocotyledons – 1%
Green Algae – 0.00%
Red Algae – 0.15%

Others:
Lichens – 0.02%
Mushrooms – 0.01%
Brown Algae – 0.21%

This list is based on numbers from full species only which means that subspecies or little known varieties are not included.

The most concern is the decline in mammals. One in every four species is threatened (approaching extinction in the world). Some countries are impacted more than others due to the loss of forests due to our growing population, hunting and other environmental reasons.

Using birds as an example of why this should concern us, BirdLife International cites that “Birds inform us about the rest of the natural world.” History itself shows us that where the environment impacts the life of animal and plant life that man should be concerned.

In 1962 Rachel Carson wrote a book called Silent Spring which talked about the effects of pesticides on the life of birds. The book has continued to be successful since that time and a second book titled Beyond Silent Spring written by H.F. van Emden and David Peakall was published in 1986.

The book was controversial then but very important to us and in light of our environmental concerns today would still speak to us. Today we see how we impact nature and in turn we may see how the loss of nature will impact us.