[Pollinator] new study: Climate Change Will Drive Extinction of Species

[Faisal Moola]

NEWS RELEASE
 
David Suzuki Foundation
 
New report shows tens of thousands of species at risk of extinction from
climate change
 
April 11, 2006
 
TORONTO -- Climate change will cause an unprecedented extinction of tens of
thousands of species around the world, says a groundbreaking new study
published in the scientific journal Conservation Biology.

 

"Climate change is rapidly becoming the most serious threat to the planet's
biodiversity," said lead author Dr. Jay Malcolm, an associate forestry
professor at the University of Toronto. "This study provides even stronger
scientific evidence that global warming will result in catastrophic species
loss across the planet."

 

Partly funded by the David Suzuki Foundation and World Wildlife Fund (WWF),
this is the first study to document the extreme vulnerability of biological
hotspots around the world to the effects of climate change.

 

Dr. Malcolm and other scientists studied habitat changes in 25 global
biodiversity hotspots - areas that are home to a disproportionate number of
the world's species. Covering only about one per cent of the earth's
terrestrial surface, these areas are home to 44 per cent of the world's
plants and 35 per cent of the vertebrates. 

 

Areas particularly vulnerable to climate change include the tropical Andes,
the Cape Floristic region of South Africa, Southwest Australia, and the
Atlantic forests of Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina.

 

"Although Canada wasn't included in the study, the results serve as a
warning of the kinds of effects climate change will have on our wild
spaces," said Dr. Faisal Moola, the David Suzuki Foundation's director of
science. "This is because many of the factors that the study found to
increase the risk of extinction due to climate change are of great
importance in Canada as well."

 

The study found that animals and plants that are highly restricted in where
they can live, so-called "endemic" species, are particularly at risk from
the effects of climate change. In Canada, the Rocky Mountains, the Queen
Charlotte Islands and the Far North are home to many such species, including
many types of fish, butterflies and plants.

 

"Because these species are found nowhere else on the planet, Canada has a
global responsibility to ensure they don't disappear due to climate change,"
said Dr. Moola. "Canada's parks and protected areas won't be able to protect
our biodiversity unless we have a national strategy to deal with climate
change."

 

"Governments, industry and people everywhere have to start reducing fossil
fuel pollution as if our lives depended on it.  Actually, the very survival
of tens of thousands of species does depend on action to avoid dangerous
climate change," said Julia Langer, Director, Global Threats for WWF-Canada.

 

The David Suzuki Foundation and WWF are calling on Prime Minister Stephen
Harper to implement the Kyoto Protocol and start putting concrete solutions
into action to reduce Canada's greenhouse gas emissions.

 

-30- 

 

The full report, Global Warming and Extinctions of Endemic Species From
Biodiversity Hotspots, can be found online at
http://individual.utoronto.ca/jay_malcolm/ 

 

The report was funded by the David Suzuki Foundation, World Wildlife Fund,
the Center for Applied Biodiversity Science at Conservation International,
and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

 

The study's authors include scientists from the University of Toronto,
University of New England, USDA Forest Service, World Wildlife Fund and
Conservation International.

 

For more information or to arrange interviews, contact:


Sarah Marchildon
Communications specialist
David Suzuki Foundation
604-732-4228, ext. 237

Dr. Faisal Moola
Director of science
David Suzuki Foundation
604-732-4228, ext. 261

Dr. Jay Malcolm
Associate forestry professor
University of Toronto
416-978-0142

Wendy Douglas
Manager, communications
World Wildlife Fund Canada
416-484-7726

Marshall Maher
Media manager
Conservation International
Washington, D.C.
202-912-1411

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