THE struggle to preserve the world’s biodiversity is being compromised by
fatal flaws in the way conservationists draw up their lists of endangered
species.
An Australian botanist warns that the lists reflect the plants and animals
that scientists are most interested in studying, rather than the most threatened
species or those at risk of extinction. For instance, says Mark Burgman of the
University of Melbourne, lists compiled and used by organisations such as the
World Conservation Union (IUCN) and the Secretariat to the CITES agreement are
heavily biased toward birds, mammals and flowering plants, to the detriment of
less charismatic…
