No real surprise here. Biodiversity is decreasing at a constant
or increasing rate. World's 2010 nature target 'will not be met'
By Richard Black Environment correspondent, BBC News Burning
trees in Brazil (Image: PA) Threats to biodiversity, such as
habitat loss, are still on the increase The world's governments
will not meet their internationally-agreed target of curbing the
loss of species and nature by 2010, a major study has confirmed.
Virtually all species and ecosystems show continued decline,
while pressures on nature are increasing, it concludes.
Published in the journal Science, the study confirms what
conservationists have known for several years. The 2010 target
was adopted in 2002, but the scientists behind this study say
implementation has been "woeful". "Our analysis shows that
governments have failed to deliver on the commitments they made
in 2002," said research leader Stuart Butchart, from the UN
Environment Programme's World Conservation Monitoring Centre
(Unep-WCMC) and BirdLife Internatio