AR-News: (US) Extinction Warning at Biodiversity Talks

[Animalara2003 at aol.com]

2 hours, 36 minutes ago


By SEAN YOONG, Associated Press Writer 
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Tens of thousands of animals and plants are being 
driven to extinction as countries fail to meet conservation targets set more 
than a decade ago, U.N. officials warned at a major conference on biodiversity 
that opened Monday. 
 
Klaus Toepfer, executive director of the U.N. Environment Program, said human 
activities such as logging and overfishing are briskly sending animal and 
plant species to oblivion. 
Countries have failed to meet expectations set by the 1992 Earth Summit in 
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil — resulting in a "high scale" of species loss worldwide, 
but especially in the developing world, he said. 
"We have to do more, not simply pay lip service," Toepfer told a news 
conference marking the start of the Seventh Conference of the Parties to the 
Convention on Biological Diversity. 
More than 2,000 government officials, scientists and environmentalists are 
attending the conference, which is an offshoot of the Rio summit that aims to 
promote environmental protection and help developing countries share in the 
wealth created by their natural resources. 
At least 60,000 species worldwide currently become extinct each year, Toepfer 
said, mainly because of the "global development agenda" set by wealthy, 
industrialized nations, which consume most of the globe's natural resources. 
Delegates attending the conference, which runs for nearly two weeks, hope to 
refocus attention on environmental issues at a time when security and trade 
dominate the international agenda. 
Canadian environmentalist David Suzuki said many countries emphasize 
industrialization and economic progress above environmental conservation, threatening 
"a major global ecological crisis." 




full story:
http://story.
news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=624&ncid=753&e=2&u=/ap/20040209/ap_on_sc/malaysia_environmental_conference 

"The world is a dangerous place,
not because of those who do evil,
but because of those who look on and do nothing.",
Albert Einstein
      /\   /\         
>' .' <   
                              
There is no justice, just us!  










    
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