permaculture

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<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7361539.stm>
Page last updated at 12:37 GMT, Wednesday, 23 April 2008 13:37 UK
Species loss 'bad for our health'
Asiatic black bear (Image: David Garshelis)
The physiology of bears could lead to a better understanding of some diseases

A new generation of medical treatments could be lost forever unless the current rate of biodiversity loss is reversed, 
conservationists have warned.

They say species are being lost before researchers have had the chance to examine and understand their potential health 
benefits.

The findings appear in Sustaining Life, a book involving more than 100 
experts.

It is being published ahead of a global summit in May that will look at ways 
to stem biodiversity loss by 2010.

"While extinction is alarming in its own right, the book demonstrates that many species can help human lives," said 
co-author Jeffrey McNeely, chief scientist at IUCN (formerly known as the World Conservation Union).

        
Societies depend on nature for treating diseases
Achim Steiner,
Unep executive director

"If we needed more justification for action to conserve species, it offers dozens of dramatic examples of both why and 
how citizens can act in ways that will conserve, rather than destroy, the species that enrich our lives."

Killing the cure

One creature whose potential benefits have been lost to science is the southern gastric brooding frog (Rheobatrachus 
silus), say the authors.

Scalloped hammerhead caught on long line (Image: Jeff Rotman/NPL)
Some sharks have seen numbers fall by as much as 75% in 15 years

First described in 1973, the frogs, which were only found in Australia, interested researchers because they raised their 
young in the females' stomachs.

Preliminary studies suggested that the young produced substances that stopped 
them being digested.

Further research could have lead to new ways of preventing and treating stomach ulcers in humans, but the amphibian was 
last recorded in the wild in 1981.

"These studies could not be continued because both species of Rheobactrachus became extinct," said co-authors Eric 
Chivian and Aaron Bernstein from Harvard Medical School, US.

"The valuable medical secrets they held are now gone forever."

The team added that there was a wide range of threatened species whose biology could hold secrets to possible treatments 
for a growing variety of ailments.

For example, they said some bears' ability to maintain bone mass when they entered a dormant state could lead to a 
better understanding of diseases such as osteoporosis.

"We must do something about what is happening to biodiversity," the UN Environment Programme's (Unep) executive 
director, Achim Steiner, told a conference in Singapore, where the book was previewed.

        
Green Room graphic (Image: BBC)

Species 'key for economic growth'
The value of the last

"Societies depend on nature for treating diseases; health systems over human history have their foundation on animal and 
planet products that are used for treatment."

The authors hope the publication will illustrate why delegates at a forthcoming key biodiversity summit in Germany have 
to back plans to halt species loss by 2010.

Mr Steiner said: "The UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has achieved a great deal but it needs to achieve more 
if it is to meet the international community's goals and objectives.

"We need a breakthrough in Bonn on all three pillars of the convention: conservation, sustainable use, and access and 
benefit sharing of genetic resources."

SEE ALSO
Map reveals key wildlife hotspots
11 Apr 08 |  Science/Nature
Climate focus 'ignores wildlife'
18 Feb 08 |  Science/Nature
Humans failing the sustainability audit
25 Oct 07 |  Science/Nature
Natural decline 'hurting lives'
25 Oct 07 |  Science/Nature
Conservation alone 'is not enough'
10 Sep 07 |  Science/Nature

RELATED INTERNET LINKS
IUCN
Unep
ARKive - Images of life on Earth
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