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Global biological diversity in decline Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com March 20, 2006 Global biological diversity is increasingly threatened according to a report released by at the outset of the largest biodiversity conference in more than a decade. More than 3000 delegates and 100 government ministers have gathered in Curitiba, Brazil at the eighth Convention on Biological Diversity to discuss the outlook for Earth's species. "In effect, we are currently responsible for the sixth major extinction event in the history of the Earth, and the greatest since the dinosaurs disappeared, 65 million years ago," the report states. Ongoing destruction of wilderness areas is cited as the leading cause of declining global biodiversity, but climate change could have an increasingly important impact, especially in ecosystems of the Arctic and Antarctic where glaciers and sea ice are fast-disappearing.
The report estimates that global demand for resources now exceeds the biological capacity of the Earth by some 20 percent, while wild species abundance fell by about 40% between 1970 and 2000. Other notes from the report
In the Caribbean, average hard coral cover declined from 50% to 10% in the last three decades. 35% of mangroves have been lost since 1980. Protected areas cover some 13% of the world's land area, but these are unevenly distributed and some are not effectively managed. The average abundance of species is declining — 40% loss between 1970 and 2000. Species present in rivers, lakes and marshlands have declined by 50%. Declines are evident in amphibians, African mammals, birds in agricultural lands, corals and commonly harvested fish species.
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