New report finds half of world's protected nature reserves heavily farmed as hunger runs rampant in biodiversity "hot...( Need to feed human population pu...)

Need to feed human population puts wildlife at risk of extinction; new solution proposed in "ecoagriculture" to save biodiversity, feed hungry populations

LONDON, 8 May 2001 Two of the worlds leading environmental and agriculture groups today report that almost half of the worlds 17,000 major nature reserves, which are intended to protect wildlife from extinction, are being heavily used for agriculture. They also report that extreme malnutrition and hunger are pervasive among people living in at least 16 of the worlds 25 key biodiversity "hotspots," where wildlife is most at risk. Todays findings, documented in an unprecedented joint report by The World Conservation Union (IUCN) and the Washington, D.C.-based agriculture organization Future Harvest are called "alarming" by the researchers. Given that clearing and using land for agriculture is the chief cause of biodiversity extinction and that widespread hunger is persistent in areas with the worlds richest biodiversity, many plants and animals will go extinct unless ecosystems are managed to feed people and protect wild species simultaneously, according to the report. Biodiversity refers to the entire array of wild plants, animals, insects, and microorganisms found in nature, which are important to global ecology and also have practical value for science and industry.

The report outlines a new solution to the biodiversity extinction crisis based on a new understanding of wildlife biology and ecology, on-the-ground experimentation, and major scientific advances in genetics, remote sensing, and other fields. The approach, called "ecoagriculture," seeks to help farmers, most urgently those living in or near biodiversity hotspots, to grow more food while conserving habitats critical to wildlife. The approach dramatically breaks with both traditional conservation policies and common agriculture techniques. The report, Common Ground, Common Future: How Ecoagriculture Ca
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Contact: Ellen Wilson
ewilson@burnesscommunications.com
301-652-1558
Burness Communications
7-May-2001