Canadian species among most threatened by climate change: group.
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Canadian species among most threatened by climate change: group.
December 14, 2009
Canada is home to five of the 10 new ``hit list'' species identified
Monday as the likeliest victims of climate change by the IUCN, a
leading global nature organization.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature, the world's largest
and oldest network of environmental scientists, has listed the Arctic
fox, leatherback turtle, beluga whale, salmon and ringed seal among 10
species ``destined to be hardest hit by climate change.''
The study, released in Copenhagen to coincide with global climate
negotiations, notes that another Canadian icon - the polar bear - has
emerged as the poster species for the climate crisis, but that other
plants and animals around the planet are equally vulnerable.
``The polar bear has come to symbolize the impacts of climate change on
the natural world,'' the IUCN report states. ``But it is only one of a
multitude of species affected, and many of these are also well-known,
much-loved and important to people.''
The new ``flagship species'' placed in the spotlight were ``chosen to
represent the impact that climate change is likely to have on land and
in our oceans and rivers.''
The Canadian animals listed in the report - titled ``Species and
Climate Change: More Than Just the Polar Bear'' - cover all three
coastal regions of the country. Leatherback turtles are the focus of a
conservation campaign in Atlantic Canada; salmon are an important
commercial fish on both the east and west coasts; the beluga ranges
widely in the country's Arctic and sub-Arctic marine habitats - as well
as the Gulf of St. Lawrence - and the Arctic fox and ringed seal occupy
important niches in the northern food web.
In detailing the risks faced by the Arctic fox, the IUCN highlighted
the transition of tundra habitat to less suitable boreal forest,
competition from northward-moving red foxes and declines in traditional
prey.
The study also notes how complex interrelationships between vulnerable
species could affect populations in a domino-like fashion.
``Because polar bears and ringed seals are expected to decline due to
climate change,'' the report states, the Arctic fox's ``coastal
populations are likely to face reductions in alternative food sources
such as ringed seal pups and the remains of polar bear prey.''
The five other species cited in the IUCN report are the staghorn coral
of the world's southern seas, Antarctica's emperor penguins, southern
Africa's quiver tree, the tropical clown fish and Australia's koala.
``Humans are not the only ones whose fate is at stake here in
Copenhagen - some of our favourite species are also taking the fall for
our CO2 emissions,'' report co-author Wendy Foden, an IUCN climate
change program officer, said in a statement.
``This report should act as a wake-up call to governments to make real
commitments to cut CO2 emissions if we are to avoid a drastically
changed natural world. We simply don't have the time for drawn-out
political wrangling. We need strong commitments and we need them now.''