Biodiversity blues

-- No one disagrees that biodiversity is under increasing threat from
"development" Habitat loss accounts for
76 per cent of the pressure on mammal and 60 per cent of the
pressure on bird biodiversity. This awareness
has forced nations worldwide to declare an increasing percentage
of their geography as protected area -
currently it covers about 5 per cent of the earth's area. But
creating protected areas is not enough; we still know
very little about what is happening to this biodiversity - changes
in species distribution and population, for
instance. So, for any conservation strategy to be successful, it
is absolutely essential to create inventories of this
biodiversity.