Sri Lanka Sets Year 2000 for Protecting Threatened Species
9/23/99
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Title: Sri Lanka Sets Year 2000 for Protecting Threatened Species
Source: Xinhua
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: September 23, 1999
COLOMBO (Sept. 23) XINHUA - Sri Lanka has declared year 2000 as the
year for the "Conservation of Threatened Species" to counter the
imminent threat of extinction of endemic species of fauna and flora,
press reports said Thursday.
The official Daily News quoted Minister of Forest and Environment
Mahinda Wijesekera as saying it was a timely decision because
tropical countries like Sri Lanka accounted for a higher level of
biodiversity than others.
According to a latest study by the International Union for the
Conservation of Nature (IUCN), about 75 percent of Sri Lanka's
endemic species of fauna and flora face the threat of extinction.
The study said, "these figures are all the more significant as they
are not exhaustive. Only a mere 1,239 species of fauna and flora and
only 811 species of flowering plants have been evaluated for threat
status."
Wijesekera said the biodiversity crisis was very real as all
recognizable levels of biodiversity genes, species and ecosystems had
been threatened, adding that about one third of all animal and plant
species are likely to be lost during the next 50 years.
The minister said it was time to reflect on changing environmental,
social, economic and political conditions and how to adapt to these
changes in the coming years.
Meaningful results could be achieved if specialists in the arena of
conservation lend their pool of knowledge to formulate and implement
conservation strategies, he added.