Humans blamed for surge in extinctions

OSLO - Humans are responsible for the worst spate of extinctions since the dinosaurs and must make unprecedented extra efforts to reach a goal of slowing losses by 2010, a United Nations report said.

Habitats ranging from coral reefs to tropical rainforests face mounting threats, the Secretariat of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity said in the report, issued at the start of a March 20-31 UN meeting in Curitiba, 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," said the 92-page Global Biodiversity Outlook 2 report.

Apart from the disappearance of the dinosaurs, the other "Big Five" extinctions were about 205, 250, 375 and 440 million years ago. Scientists suspect that asteroid strikes, volcanic eruptions or sudden climate shifts may explain the five.

A rising human population of 6.5 billion was undermining the environment for animals and plants via pollution, expanding cities, deforestation, introduction of "alien species" and global warming.

It estimated the current pace of extinctions was 1000 times faster than historical rates.

According to a "Red List" compiled by the World Conservation Union, 844 animals and plants are known to have gone extinct in the last 500 years, ranging from the dodo to the golden toad in Costa Rica. It says the figures are probably a big underestimate.

- REUTERS