Concerns raised over disappearing species

224 species have become extinct in Switzerland in the past 150 years Pro Natura

On International Biodiversity Day, Swiss experts have been sounding the alarm over the devastating consequences of the loss of the world's flora and fauna.

It is estimated that around 100 species become extinct each day worldwide – a threat which also affects Switzerland. Invasive alien species are making the problem worse.

It is difficult to imagine a meadow with flowers or a lake without fish, but voices are warning that this may become a reality.

“The earth’s biodiversity is in grave danger,” Nicolas Wüthrich, a spokesman for the environmental non-governmental organisation Pro Natura, told swissinfo.ch.

“It’s got to the stage where some experts are talking about species being halved by 2050,” he added.

Industrialisation, urbanisation and exploitation of resources have all accelerated the damage to nature and the countryside and have disturbed the delicate balance of ecosystems.

These man-made changes have been so sudden and so brutal that animals and plants have not been able to adapt quickly enough, experts say.

Alien invasions

The introduction of invasive alien species, which tend to spread at the cost of indigenous ones, has made the problem worse. This issue is the main focus of Biodiversity Day on Friday.

“These organisms, which are easily able to adapt, manage to undermine indigenous species without too much difficulty. Moreover, they can cause diseases unknown at our latitudes, as well as considerable damage to agriculture,” Wüthrich said.

“The rainbow trout, for example, is a fish of American origin whose presence in our rivers endangers the survival of our local trout.”

It is estimated that alien species have been a contributing factor in around 40 per cent of animal extinctions.

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, alien species make up the second largest threat to biodiversity, after changes of habitat caused by man.

Swiss situation

More than 220 species of flora and fauna have become extinct or disappeared in Switzerland over the past 150 years. Almost half of local animal life is currently on the red list of endangered species and more than a third of ferns and flowering plants, as well as moss and lichens, are considered “at risk”.

“The state of the biodiversity in Switzerland varies from one region to another,” explained Urs Hintermann from the Federal Environment Office’s biodiversity monitoring programme.

“Nature is particularly rich in the mountains, forests and in some inhabited areas, but vegetation is becoming increasingly uniform in the plains and pastures,” he added.

Wüthrich sounds a more alarmist tone. “The problem of protecting species in Switzerland is a particularly grave one, but the population and the political authorities are not yet properly aware of it,” he said.

“The idea of biodiversity has not always been so immediate and the consequences of its loss have often been invisible to the naked eye.”

In Switzerland the legal basis for biodiversity conservation and management exists, but it is often difficult to apply, adds Wüthrich.

“There is a lack of funds and staff and there are long delays in applying regulations. We have to do more to stop the jewels of our country disappearing, ” the Pro Natura spokesman said.

Unprecedented loss rate

The dying out of species can also be a natural phenomenon. Earth has already witnessed five mass extinctions, the last of which dates back 65 million years. But the present rate of flora and fauna loss is unprecedented.

Wüthrich speaks of a rhythm 10,000 faster than in the past. “If half of the species are set to die out by 2050, there’s a one in two chance that man will be among them,” he warned.

At the Earth Summit in Johannesburg in 2002, the signatory countries to the United Nations Convention on Biodiversity agreed to reduce the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010.

“The objective however seems unrealisable by most countries,” Federal Environment Office spokeswoman Elisabeth Maret told swissinfo.ch. “The measures taken until now, for example the protection of biotopes, have not borne the hoped for fruits.”

“The species on the red list are still threatened and it is therefore imperative to draw up a new action strategy.”

Stefania Summermatter, swissinfo.ch (Translated from Italian by Isobel Leybold-Johnson)

Species in figures

1.7 million species have been catalogued on earth, but experts say there could be between 12 and 30 million.

16,000 species are considered at risk of dying out.

In Switzerland there are around 40,000 species of plants, animals and fungi. 800 are alien and 107 are invasive.

224 species have died out in Switzerland over the past 150 years.

In 2010, the international biodiversity year, Switzerland will organise a series of events to raise awareness among the population.

Biodiversity in Switzerland

The effects of climate change on biodiversity are already visible – certain alpine species are moving up to higher altitudes, with an average distance of 13 metres. The bilberry, for example, has moved up 40 metres in the past 8 years.

Experts say this can be dangerous because it creates competition among the new arrivals and established species.

The Federal Environment Office’s biodiversity monitoring programme, which was launched in 2001, shows that Mediterranean species, such as types of butterflies, have been arriving in alpine areas.