The extinction crisis: is there any hope?
Simon Stuart, Chair, International Union for Conservation of Nature
Date/Time: 3rd March 2011, 17:30 - 18:30
CLICK TO LISTEN TO A RECORDING OF THIS LECTURE
As the rate of species extinctions continues to rise, Simon Stuart asks if governments are doing enough to prevent a crisis from becoming a catastrophe.
The world’s species are under unprecedented threat with the rate of extinction increasing and new threats, such as climate change and novel diseases, are emerging. The world’s response to this crisis is growing, but the rate of increase in this response is slowing, leading to a widening gap between the pressures on species, and the responses to those pressures. Unless the world takes dramatic action to change this situation, the rate of extinction will increase, despite any lofty commitments made by governments. The biodiversity summit taking place in Japan in October 2010 is the opportunity for governments to commit to the necessary policies and actions to make a real change. The speaker will provide an eye-witness account of the results of that summit.
Simon Stuart has been associated with the Species Survival Commission (SSC) since the early 1980s, when he started work on the African Bird Red Data Book. He joined the IUCN Secretariat in 1986, and was Head of the Species Programme (1990–2000), Acting Director General (2000–2001), Head of the Biodiversity Assessment Unit (2001–2005), and Senior Species Scientist (2005–2008). Before becoming Chair of the SSC, Simon co-ordinated the IUCN/SSC biodiversity assessments, including those on mammals, reptiles, amphibians and marine species.
