[Greens-Media] MEDIA RELEASE: Growing number of endangered species national source of shame: Greens

[Willis, Katrina (Sen C. Milne)]

MEDIA RELEASE

Wednesday, 3 May 2006

Growing number of endangered species national source of shame: Greens

Australians should be alarmed to discover that together with Brazil,
China, Indonesia and Mexico, we have been assessed by the World
Conservation Union (IUCN) as having a high number of threatened species,
including our own unique endemic plants and animals, the Australian
Greens said today.

"Australia risks losing many more unique species unless the Howard
government takes seriously its global obligation to protect species and
ecosystems from the major drivers of extinction - habitat loss and
degradation, over-exploitation, alien species pollution, disease and
climate change," Greens climate change spokesperson and IUCN
vice-president, Senator Christine Milne said in Hobart.

The latest IUCN report on threatened species has identified 639 species
in Australia on its Red List (up from 621 in the previous report),
including 65 as critically endangered.*

"Clearly, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation
(EPBC) Act is insufficient to address the threats," Senator Milne said.

"Whilst Environment Minister Ian Campbell is talking about acting to
protect one species - the Orange-bellied Parrot - Tasmanian logging
operations every day threaten the Wedge-tailed Eagle and the Swift
Parrot, among other species.

"When will the Minister intervene to stop habitat loss in Tasmania and
end the threats from logging to many species? When will he consistently
apply the provisions of the EPBC Act to threatened species everywhere?

"IUCN expects climate change to become one of the main threats to
biodiversity. It is already threatening species everywhere, with Polar
bears now threatened by drowning and starvation because of melting
summer sea ice in the Artic. 

"It is not acceptable for the Howard government to continue to refuse to
ratify the Kyoto Protocol on climate change and to gamble on carbon
capture and storage as an adequate response to climate change.

 "The government should be investing in proven renewable energy
technology, energy efficiency and demand reduction, and improving public
transport.

* Information about the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species can be found
at www.icun.org

More information: Katrina Willis 0437 587 562 or 03 6234 4566

Katrina Willis
Adviser
Senator Christine Milne
Phone 03 6234 4566
Fax 03 6234 2144
Mobile 0437 587 562
www.christinemilne.org.au