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保育工作初見成效 全球必須繼續通力合作

2010年11月04日
摘譯自2010年10月28日ENS日本,愛知縣,名古屋報導;段譽豪編譯;蔡麗伶審校

南非的白犀牛族群正在回復當中。攝影:Ian Turk來自193個國家的代表以及環境部長,在生物多樣性公約會議的幾天還在為條約文字內容爭議時,大會新的報告顯示,雖然全球有1/5的脊椎動物面臨滅絕危機,保育工作已經見到一些成效。

這份由全球最大的環保組織-國際自然保育聯盟(IUCN)所提出的報告發現,有50種哺乳類、鳥類以及兩棲類動物,每年都受到農業開發、伐木、過度開發以及外來種的入侵,而被步步逼向滅絕。

不過維護瀕危物種紅皮書的IUCN表示,如果不是現在全球正在進行的保育工作,全世界的物種將面臨更危險的狀況。

「這就是我們為什麼必須在名古屋會議中,對生物多樣性保育提出未來十年行動策略計劃的原因,」IUCN秘書長Julia Marton-Lefevre說,「這是對我們吹響的號角-政府、企業以及每個人,要動員各項資源並產生行動力。保育工作是有功效的,但是它需要我們的支持,而且不能在等下去!」

IUCN的研究將發表在《科學》期刊上,利用IUCN瀕危物種紅皮書上25000個物種的資料,來調查全球哺乳動物的狀況,以及這個狀況隨時間的改變。

「我們的研究關鍵點在於保育工作減緩了物種的流失。這表示我們可以對這個全球性的問題,在區域或全球的尺度下採取協調過的行動。」報告的共同作者保育國際(Conservation International)的科學與知識副總裁羅森堡(Andrew Rosenberg)博士說。

美國著名的生態學家兼作家威爾森(Edward O. Wilson)教授,在哈佛大學對名古屋會議的與會者發出一個視訊短片說,「生物多樣性的根基正受到破壞,」「紅皮書中的一小步,卻是邁向滅絕的一大步。這只是我們觀察全球正在發生中問題的一個小窗口。」

威爾森教授在哈佛大學的皇家植物園發表演講,闡述全球生物多樣性的重要性以及影響的廣大層面。威爾森的演講是透過視訊會議的方式與名古屋會議互動,他沒有飛抵名古屋現場是為了要減少這場會議的炭足跡。

「我們世界的最後一道防線已經失守,」威爾森說,「人類出現以後,動植物物種的消失速度快了上百倍,在本世紀末之前,可能有一半以上的物種會消失。」

「世界末日將在第3個千禧年時臨到,」威爾森警告,「不過並不會是如同聖經的末日預言,有天外來的火球或是戰爭。而是由於人類大量的發展以及消耗,而使地球被消耗殆盡。」

各國環境首長以及代表,齊聚在名古屋的工作,是要訂立一個新的生物多樣性保護計畫,以遏止地球上物種的消失,並要認同且願意支付計畫所需的經費。

日本政府已經宣布,將在3年內提供20億美金,其中部份經費將用作發展中國家實行新的生物多樣性計畫之用。

世界自然基金會(WWF)總幹事利普(Jim Leape)表示,WWF正在尋求所有的資助國家,將資金投入,使新的計畫能付諸行動。

世界領袖們在2002年訂定了目標,要在2010年之前大幅減緩生物多樣性的流失,不過卻失敗了,許多物種正持續走向滅絕之路。

不過在IUCN的研究中發現,希望仍然存在。IUCN的研究雖然證實了生物多樣性的持續流失,報告中也首次提出明確的證據,指出全球各地的保育工作已經有了正面的成效。

「歷史告訴我們,保育工作能夠創造奇蹟。大家都知道非洲南部白犀牛的故事。」IUCN物種存續委員會的主席史都華(Simon Stuart)博士是本研究的作者,他說,「這是我們第一次我們能夠證明,聚集正面的力量對環境狀態能夠產生正面的影響。」

研究中指出了64種哺乳類、鳥類以及兩棲類動物,由於成功的保育行動而改善了他們的狀態。

蒙古的普氏野馬。圖片節錄自: Golden Gobi Guesthouse相本。其中包含了3種在野外滅絕,重新野放到自然環境中的物種:美國的加州禿鷹,(Gymnogyps californianus);黑腳雪貂(Mustela nigripes),以及蒙古的普氏野馬(Equus ferus)。

研究顯示,保育工作在打擊對島嶼的入侵種工作方面特別的成功。全球的塞舌爾鵲鴝(Copsychus sechellarum)族群量,透過控制天敵的數量、人工繁殖以及重新引進計畫,從1965年的不到15隻,增加到2006年的180隻。

馱馬因為美麗的毛皮,而被獵捕瀕絕。圖片節錄自: Francesco Veronesi相本。在南美洲,保護區的規畫並與華盛頓公約(CITES)和駝馬公約(Vicuña Convention)的相結合之下,讓類到幾乎滅絕的情況中恢復。

IUCN也指出,1986年由國際捕鯨委員會所發出的全球禁止商業捕鯨的規定,讓座頭鯨(Megaptera novaeangliae)的保育狀態,由原本的易危(VU)改成了無危(LC)。

IUCN的報告指出,極少數的兩棲類初漸復甦跡象,而國際間的努力正在增加,包含一項奇漢西噴霧蟾蜍(Nectophrynoides asperginis)的重新野放計畫,將在坦尚尼亞野外進行。

「這篇論文證明了保育工作是有效的。」報告作者之一,倫敦動物學會主席貝利教授(Jonathan Baillie)說,「現在我們必須加倍努力,以趕上自然世界現在所面對的前所未見的威脅。」

「這份報告顯示,未能達成減少2010年生物多樣性損失的目標並不代表所有的保育努力都是徒勞無功,」IUCN在一份隨同報告發表的聲明中說,「然而生物多樣性的喪失已經到了危險的程度,我們無法承受再次失敗的損失。2020年需要更遠大的目標,而達成目標需要大規模立即且協調一致的行動。現在是世界各國政府齊聚名古屋,共同面對這全球性挑戰的時刻。」

Conservation With Teeth Needed to Save Nature's Backbone
NAGOYA, Aichi, Japan, October 28, 2010 (ENS)

As environment ministers and other delegates from 193 countries wrangle over treaty language during the final days at the Convention on Biodiversity meeting, a new report issued at the conference demonstrates that while extinction looms for one-fifth of all vertebrate species, conservation efforts can be effective.

The report by the world's largest environmental group, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, finds that 50 species of mammals, birds and amphibians are pushed closer to extinction each year by agricultural expansion, logging, over-exploitation and invasive alien species.

But the IUCN, which maintains the authoritative Red List of Threatened Species, says the world's species would be in even more perilous circumstances were it not for current global conservation efforts.

This is clear evidence for why we absolutely must emerge from Nagoya with a strategic plan of action to direct our efforts for biodiversity in the coming decade," said Julia Marton-Lefevre, director general of IUCN. "It is a clarion call for all of us - governments, businesses, citizens - to mobilize resources and drive the action required. Conservation does work but it needs our support, and it needs it fast!"

The IUCN study, to be published in the international journal "Science," uses data for 25,000 species from The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, to investigate the status of the world's vertebrates and how this status has changed over time.

"The critical point from our analysis is the role that conservation plays in slowing species losses. That means we can do something about this global problem by taking concerted action at local national and regional scales," says co-author Dr. Andrew Rosenberg, senior vice president for science and knowledge at Conservation International.

"The backbone of biodiversity is being eroded," said the eminent American ecologist and writer Professor Edward O. Wilson during an address to Nagoya participants videocast from Harvard University. "One small step up the Red List is one giant leap forward towards extinction. This is just a small window on the global losses currently taking place."

Professor Wilson was speaking Sunday during a lecture at the Royal Botanical Gardens at Harvard University about the vast scope and importance of Earth's biodiversity. Rather than flying Wilson to Nagoya, the lecture was delivered live via an interactive videoconference in order to minimize the meeting's carbon footprint.

"The last frontiers of the world are effectively gone," said Wilson. "Species of plants and animals are disappearing a hundred or more times faster than before the coming of humanity, and as many as half may be gone by the end of this century."

"An Armageddon is approaching at the beginning of the third millennium," Wilson warned. "But it is not the cosmic war and fiery collapse of mankind foretold in sacred scripture. It is the wreckage of the planet by an exuberantly plentiful and ingenious humanity."

It is the job of environment ministers and other delegates gathered in Nagoya to write a new biodiversity conservation plan for the planet to stem species losses, agree upon this plan and fund its implementation.

The government of Japan has announced aid worth US$2 billion over the next three years, part of which will go to developing countries for implementation of the new biodiversity plan.

Jim Leape, WWF International Director General says his organization is looking to all donor countries to put additional funds on the table to put the new plan into action.

The stated target of world leaders in 2002 that they would greatly slow the loss of biological diversity by 2010 was missed and many species are continuing their slide towards extinction.

But there is some hope to be found in the IUCN study. While it confirms previous reports of continued losses in biodiversity, this report is the first to present clear evidence of the positive impact of conservation efforts around the globe.

"History has shown us that conservation can achieve the impossible, as anyone who knows the story of the white rhinoceros in southern Africa is aware," says Dr. Simon Stuart, who chairs IUCN's Species Survival Commission and is an author on the study. "But this is the first time we can demonstrate the aggregated positive impact of these successes on the state of the environment."

The study highlights 64 mammal, bird and amphibian species that have improved in status due to successful conservation action.

This includes three species that were extinct in the wild and have since been re-introduced back to nature: the California Condor, Gymnogyps californianus, and the black-footed ferret, Mustela nigripes, in the United States, and Przewalski's horse, Equus ferus, in Mongolia.

Conservation efforts have been particularly successful at combating invasive alien species on islands, the study shows. The global population of the Seychelles magpie-robin, Copsychus sechellarum, increased from fewer than 15 birds in 1965 to 180 in 2006 through control of introduced predators, captive-breeding and re-introduction programs.

In South America, protected areas and a combination of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species and the Vicuña Convention helped the vicuña, Vicugna vicugna, to recover after being hunted nearly to extinction for their wool and meat.

The IUCN points out that the global ban on commercial whaling imposed by the International Whaling Commission in 1986 has helped the humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae, move from being classed as Vulnerable to extinction to a status of Least Concern today.

Very few amphibians have yet shown signs of recovery, the IUCN reports, but international efforts are escalating, including a program to reintroduce the Kihansi spray toad, Nectophrynoides asperginis, back into the wild in Tanzania.

"This paper is proof that conservation is working," says Professor Jonathan Baillie, Director of Conservation Programmes at the Zoological Society of London and an author on the paper. "Now we have to scale up our efforts to match the unprecedented threats faced by the natural world."

"Failure to meet the internationally agreed 2010 target to reduce biodiversity loss does not mean that conservation efforts have been in vain, as this study demonstrates," the IUCN said in a statement issued with the report. "However, the erosion of biodiversity has reached such dangerous levels that we cannot afford to fail again. Ambitious targets are needed for 2020, and to meet them will require urgent and concerted action on a greatly expanded scale. It is time for the world's governments, meeting in Nagoya, to rise effectively to this global challenge."

全文及圖片詳見:ENS報導

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作者

蔡麗伶(LiLing Barricman)

In my healing journey and learning to attain the breath awareness, I become aware of the reality that all the creatures of the world are breathing the same breath. Take action, here and now. From my physical being to the every corner of this out of balance's planet.