Almost a third of threats to animal species around the world stem from trade to meet the demands of richer nations, a study concludes.
Forests are cut down for coffee and cocoa plantations, removing animal habitat; elephants and rhinos are poached to provide ivory to East Asia.
Researchers analysed the overall impact of all this on threatened species.
Writing in the journal Nature, they say management of supply chains and product labelling could help stem the trend.
The mainly Australian research team looked at nearly 7,000 threatened species drawn from the internationally recognised Red List.
These records were cross-referenced against analyses of more than 15,000 commodities and traced back through international supply chains.
The overall picture is one where goods whose production damages biodiversity flow from developing countries into their more prosperous counterparts - although this is becoming more complex as economies such as China quickly develop.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment
You only need to enter your comment once! Comments will appear once they have been moderated. This is so as to stop the would-be comedian who has been spamming the comments here with inane and often offensive remarks. You know who you are!