Aust: Growing number of endangered species shame

Growing number of endangered species national source of shame: Greens

Australians should be alarmed to discover that together with Brazil,
China, Indonesia and Mexico, we have been assessed by the World
Conservation Union (IUCN) as having a high number of threatened species, including our own unique endemic plants and animals, the Australian Greens said today.

"Australia risks losing many more unique species unless the Howard government takes seriously its global obligation to protect species and ecosystems from the major drivers of extinction - habitat loss and degradation, over-exploitation, alien species pollution, disease and climate change," Greens climate change spokesperson and IUCN vice-president, Senator Christine Milne said in Hobart.

The latest IUCN report on threatened species has identified 639 species in Australia on its Red List (up from 621 in the previous report), including 65 as critically endangered.*

"Clearly, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation
(EPBC) Act is insufficient to address the threats," Senator Milne said.

"Whilst Environment Minister Ian Campbell is talking about acting to protect one species - the Orange-bellied Parrot - Tasmanian logging operations every day threaten the Wedge-tailed Eagle and the Swift Parrot, among other species.

"When will the Minister intervene to stop habitat loss in Tasmania and end the threats from logging to many species? When will he consistently apply the provisions of the EPBC Act to threatened species everywhere?

"IUCN expects climate change to become one of the main threats to biodiversity. It is already threatening species everywhere, with Polar bears now threatened by drowning and starvation because of melting summer sea ice in the Artic.

"It is not acceptable for the Howard government to continue to refuse to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on climate change and to gamble on carbon capture and storage as an adequate response to climate change.

"The government should be investing in proven renewable energy technology, energy efficiency and demand reduction, and improving public transport.

* Information about the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species can be found at http://www.icun.org/

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