XPost: can.general, soc.culture.canada, soc.culture.canadian   
   From: abc@123.cl   
      
   Canadian species among most threatened by climate change: group.   
      
      
   December 14, 2009   
      
      
   Canada is home to five of the 10 new ``hit list'' species identified   
   Monday as the likeliest victims of climate change by the IUCN, a   
   leading global nature organization.   
      
   The International Union for Conservation of Nature, the world's largest   
   and oldest network of environmental scientists, has listed the Arctic   
   fox, leatherback turtle, beluga whale, salmon and ringed seal among 10   
   species ``destined to be hardest hit by climate change.''   
      
   The study, released in Copenhagen to coincide with global climate   
   negotiations, notes that another Canadian icon - the polar bear - has   
   emerged as the poster species for the climate crisis, but that other   
   plants and animals around the planet are equally vulnerable.   
      
   ``The polar bear has come to symbolize the impacts of climate change on   
   the natural world,'' the IUCN report states. ``But it is only one of a   
   multitude of species affected, and many of these are also well-known,   
   much-loved and important to people.''   
      
   The new ``flagship species'' placed in the spotlight were ``chosen to   
   represent the impact that climate change is likely to have on land and   
   in our oceans and rivers.''   
      
   The Canadian animals listed in the report - titled ``Species and   
   Climate Change: More Than Just the Polar Bear'' - cover all three   
   coastal regions of the country. Leatherback turtles are the focus of a   
   conservation campaign in Atlantic Canada; salmon are an important   
   commercial fish on both the east and west coasts; the beluga ranges   
   widely in the country's Arctic and sub-Arctic marine habitats - as well   
   as the Gulf of St. Lawrence - and the Arctic fox and ringed seal occupy   
   important niches in the northern food web.   
      
   In detailing the risks faced by the Arctic fox, the IUCN highlighted   
   the transition of tundra habitat to less suitable boreal forest,   
   competition from northward-moving red foxes and declines in traditional   
   prey.   
      
   The study also notes how complex interrelationships between vulnerable   
   species could affect populations in a domino-like fashion.   
      
   ``Because polar bears and ringed seals are expected to decline due to   
   climate change,'' the report states, the Arctic fox's ``coastal   
   populations are likely to face reductions in alternative food sources   
   such as ringed seal pups and the remains of polar bear prey.''   
      
   The five other species cited in the IUCN report are the staghorn coral   
   of the world's southern seas, Antarctica's emperor penguins, southern   
   Africa's quiver tree, the tropical clown fish and Australia's koala.   
      
   ``Humans are not the only ones whose fate is at stake here in   
   Copenhagen - some of our favourite species are also taking the fall for   
   our CO2 emissions,'' report co-author Wendy Foden, an IUCN climate   
   change program officer, said in a statement.   
      
   ``This report should act as a wake-up call to governments to make real   
   commitments to cut CO2 emissions if we are to avoid a drastically   
   changed natural world. We simply don't have the time for drawn-out   
   political wrangling. We need strong commitments and we need them now.''   
      
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