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Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Photo: Global Financial Crisis Endangers Conservation Gains


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The African elephant, which for years has seen significant declines due to poaching, moved from "vulnerable" to the less at-risk "near threatened" status on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's 2008 Red List.

Experts contribute the elephant's down-listing to successful conservation programs that have helped with recent and ongoing population increases in certain parts of Africa.

But with the looming financial crisis, some fear that a recession will likely push conservation to the bottom of government priority lists for years to come, and that environmentalists should be "really worried."

Photograph by Michael Nichols/NGS