Opinion - Editorials

A sustainable future

The most comprehensive study yet of the status of mammals on land and in marine environments, published recently in Science, has revealed that 1,141 species, representing one in four, are threatened with extinction worldwide. Data for many others are deficient, but they are also at considerable risk. The Western Ghats in India with their high species endemism constitute a hotspot; in Southeast Asia, primates are extremely threatened; globally, animals ra nging from shrews to elephants and whales are distressed. This is unambiguous evidence emerging from the five-year study led by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, better known as the IUCN. The organisation has the monumental task of helping governments take the right steps to avert more extinction (76 mammal species have gone extinct since 1500). The IUCN resolved at the World Conservation Congress in Barcelona recently that it would work with governments, civil society, and the private sector towards a sustainable future. The major tool it has crafted for biodiversity protection is the Red List, which flags individual species as vulnerable, critically endangered and so on. Yet, the effects of key factors — habitat fragmentation and loss, hunting, and climate change — on listed species are growing more serious.

The Barcelona Congress provided enough indication that there are contentious issues in the IUCN’s working, beginning with conflicts of interest over sources of funding. Many environmentalist delegates were keen to sever links with donors from industries such as oil. The organisation’s newly-elected president from India, Ashok Khosla, has affirmed that “neither hush money nor green wash is acceptable,” and this is the standard to which the organisation must adhere. It plans to engage with industry and has been promised corporate funding. The effort must be to use the relationship to avert negative environmental impacts of commercial decisions. Coordinated work among nations is needed to remove factors that are decimating marine mammal populations. An alarming 78 per cent of species are affected through fisheries — by catch and ship strikes; pollution is another serious threat. Conservation actions have to be based on the clear understanding that natural processes involving a diverse web of plants and animals provide clean air and water, and food. These are the dots that the IUCN must help connect, to convince governments that nature needs protection.

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