http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/04/25/eacures125.xml

The World Wildlife Fund recently reported that the number of animals, birds and water-dwelling species has dropped by almost one-third, a situation that is likely to be exasperated even more by Climate Change. A rich, biodiverse world is generally accepted as a good measure of the health of our planet and its ecosystems, and the loss of species triggers alarms as to the impacts of human demands on our world. Some observers have even warned that the extinctions of wildlife simply portend the end of our own species. One aspect of how that point of view may hold true is in a warning from scientists about lost opportunities to learn from Nature. Increasingly, scientists have been looking to the natural world for clues that could lead to new treatments for the diseases and maladies that affect people. But with the disappearance of so many species in recent years, many of these opportunities could be lost forever – and we wouldn't even know. Yet another reason to keep the world fit for human habitation, and in the process, make it healthy enough for the other fauna and flora with whom we share the planet to survive.

Their warning comes in a new book, Sustaining Life, which draws on the work of more than 100 experts. Published by Oxford University Press, it has been supported by the United Nations Environment Programe and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) - the world's largest global environment organisation.

According to the IUCN, 820 land and marine species have been killed off by human activity in the last 500 years.

The survival of a further 15,000 is in jeopardy as a result of habitat destruction, hunting and fishing, pollution, disease and climate change.

Telegraph UK; April 25, 2008

Submitted by R. Campbell