Data bank compiled to help endangered wildlife
Date: 02-Sep-02
Country: SOUTH AFRICA
The World Conservation Union's (IUCN) wildlife diversity records are being collated onto an easily accessible computer system, allowing people to make informed decisions relating to work in wild areas, the project's co-ordinator said.
More than 11,100 species are known to be threatened with extinction, including one in every four mammals, the ICUN said. The new database, to be available within a year, will make sure people can find out if their activities might be contributing to this total.
"If you are going to build a pipeline form one place to another, you will be able to ask, are there areas that we should avoid," said David Bracket of the IUCN's Species Survival Commission.
"If you are a farmer and you have to expand your agricultural land in one way or another, you can ask which way is the least destructive," Bracket added, speaking at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg.
The new database, accessible on the Internet, will contain information on wildlife populations, their distribution and stability, as well as conservation projects under way.
