Ocean Sentry
(From uk.reuters.com) – An influential global network of governments, scientists and conservationists called on Tuesday for deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and said financial turmoil must not sideline work to safeguard animals and plants. “The clear message coming out of this meeting is that biodiversity underpins the well-being of human societies and their economies,” said Julia Marton-Lefevre, head of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), in a statement at the end of a 10-day IUCN congress in Barcelona.
Delegates made a non-binding plea to governments to cut emissions of heat-trapping carbon dioxide by between 50 and 85 percent by 2050 and to limit global warming to less than 2 Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times.
More than 190 governments are due to agree a new U.N. climate treaty by the end of 2009, meant to help avert rising sea levels, heatwaves, species extinctions, droughts and floods.
“Participants underlined … that the cost of biodiversity losses are not only greater than those of the current financial problems, but in many cases, they are irreparable,” the IUCN statement said.
The IUCN also called for a ban on fishing of the Mediterranean bluefin tuna, a highly prized species threatened with extinction, and for the creation of a sanctuary for the fish around Spain’s Balearic islands.
(© Thomson Reuters)
