The first comprehensive audit of the status of habitats in Ireland which have protected status under national and EU law found that only seven percent of habitats are rated as having "good" status.

Scientists found that 46 percent of habitats such as bogs, rivers, sea bays, deep sea reefs and sand dunes were "inadequate" and 47 percent were "bad".

Many of Ireland's habitats are scarce or absent elsewhere in Europe, said the report, which coincides with the start of a major conference in Bonn, Germany, aimed at ending the destruction of countless plant and animal species.

Particular concern in the Irish report was expressed about bogs in the country's midlands. Less than one percent remains of these raised bogs and "this is rapidly being lost", it said.

Meanwhile, lowland hay meadows -- important for birds such as corncrake and plants such as cornflower -- were in "serious peril" and meadows generally are disappearing as agriculture has modernised.

Coastal habitats were also found to have declined in quality, often as a result of recreation and development pressure over the past 20 years.

The report blames building development, road building, pollution of waters by nutrients and silt, peat cutting, reclamation of wetlands and unsustainable harvesting as the main culprits.

"The bad and poor ratings for habitats reflect the impacts of 35 years of agricultural intensification and a period of unrivalled economic growth in Ireland," the environment ministry said in a statement.

Green party minister John Gormley said the report sets "many tough challenges" and that it was critical to maintain and restore habitats but this would need careful prioritisation and planning.

earlier related report
Stark warning as UN biodiversity conference opens in Germany The Earth's natural resources must be shared more equally between rich and poor nations, Germany's environment minister said Monday at the start of a UN biodiversity conference.

Some 6,000 representatives from 191 countries are attending the 11-day conference on the UN's convention on biodiversity, which was first adopted at the Rio Earth summit in 1992.

"The industrialised countries must recognise the need to share natural resources with those with those who have safeguarded them," Sigmar Gabriel declared.

"It is a question of principle, a question of justice," he said. "The developing countries are right to speak of "biopiracy", when the industrialised world use their resources without authorisation and without paying a penny," he said.

Participants at the conference are hoping to establish a roadmap towards negotiating, by 2010, an "Access and Benefit Sharing" regulatory framework governing access to genetic resources and sharing the benefits from their use.

Gabriel said he expected "significant progress" on the issue. "We need a clear mandate for structuring the negotiations by 2010," he said.

The UN convention on biodiversity (CBD) was established at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, whilst the Bonn conference is the ninth meeting of its signatories.

"Sixteen years after the Rio Summit, life on earth is at a crucial crossroads", Gabriel told delegates.

"We're still on the wrong track, and if we continue like this, we can see that we will not meet our goals," he said.

Gabriel pointed to the fact that the current rate of extinction of species is between 100 and 1,000 times the natural rate of extinction.

One in four mammals, one bird in eight, one third of all amphibians and 70 percent of plants are under threat.

"The loss of diversity of life on earth will continue "as long as it is easier to make money from the destruction of nature than protect it," he said.

A new study, "The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity", extracts of which were published on Monday by Der Spiegel magazine, suggests that each year the disappearance of animal and plant life costs six percent of annual global gross national product (GNP) -- two trillion euros (3.1 trillion dollars).

For poorer countries, the burden is particularly heavy, often because they receive none of the profits large multinationals make from developing new medicines and commercial products from the resources and knowledge of indigenous people.

Deforestation is also on the agenda: "Each year we lose the equivalent of the size of three Switzerlands in forests," Gabriel said.

Tropical forests are the most threatened, and also the home to 80 percent of the world's biodiversity, according to the CBD.

Community
Email This Article
Comment On This Article

Share This Article With Planet Earth

del.icio.us	Digg	Reddit
YahooMyWeb	Google	Facebook

Related Links
Dirt, rocks and all the stuff we stand on firmly

Memory Foam Mattress Review

SPACE MEDIA NETWORK PROMOTIONS Solar Energy Solutions Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison ... Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News