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UN "Global Biodiversity Outlook 2"

Originally posted on sciy.org by Ron Anastasia on Wed 22 Mar 2006 05:08 AM PST  

RUN report faults humans for extinctions

USA Today, Science & Space,
3/20/2006

People are responsible for the worst spate of extinctions since the dinosaur era and must make unprecedented efforts to reach a goal of slowing losses by 2010, warns a new United Nations report.

Habitats ranging from coral reefs to tropical rainforests face mounting threats from pollution, expanding cities, deforestation, introduction of invasive species and global warming, says the report, issued Monday at the start of a U.N. meeting on biological diversity in Brazil.

"In effect, we are currently responsible for the sixth major extinction event in the history of Earth, and the greatest since the dinosaurs disappeared 65 million years ago," says the "Global Biodiversity Outlook 2" report.

Apart from the disappearance of the dinosaurs, the other "Big Five" extinctions occurred between 205 million and 440 million years ago, says the report.

Scientists suspect that asteroid strikes, volcanic eruptions or sudden climate shifts may explain them, it says.

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