Senior WWF Official Urges Congress to Embrace Global Approach to Species Conservation

Business Wire,  June 24, 2008  

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Efforts to Protect Single Species Fall Short by Failing to Address Larger Issues Threatening Long-Term Survival, Says WWF's Tom Dillon

WASHINGTON -- In testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives today, Tom Dillon, senior vice president for field programs at World Wildlife Fund (WWF), urged a new paradigm in international species conservation, comprised of a globally based strategic vision and greater funding for conservation efforts.

Dillon made his remarks before the Natural Resources Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife and Oceans at a hearing on H.R. 4455, which would create a new Wildlife Without Borders program. In his testimony, Dillon said WWF supports the bill, but urged Congress to draft legislation that would create a much broader effort and, in effect, completely change the U.S. government's approach toward international species conservation. The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) joined WWF today in issuing a statement in support of the proposed new conservation paradigm.

"A new paradigm for species conservation is needed, one that evolves from the current single-species programs and a focus on implementing terms for individual grant programs, towards one that embraces a strategic vision toward species conservation worldwide, with adequate resources to accomplish that vision," Dillon testified.

Currently, most species conservation efforts, administered by the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), focus on the protection of individual species: African elephants, rhinoceroses, tigers, Asian elephants, great apes and marine turtles. FWS also maintains regional programs, which focus mainly in Latin America, Mexico and the Caribbean, as well as global programs, which provide support for the implementation of international conventions and treaties that promote conservation. H.R. 4455 would codify these three distinct efforts into one Wildlife Without Borders program.

"H.R. 4455 takes the status quo and improves it in terms of the FWS programs currently in existence," Dillon said in explaining WWF's support for the legislation. "We see great value in tying the three programs together in that it will foster greater synergy among the programs and greater consolidation and coordination of efforts toward international species conservation within the FWS."

However, Dillon told the Subcommittee, the increasing threat of species extinction requires a broader, more comprehensive strategy than would be provided under H.R. 4455. "Major threats to species - such as climate change, invasive species and emerging diseases like Ebola, bird flu and SARS - need to be addressed in a comprehensive manner." Explaining the severity of the extinction threat Dillon added, "Scientists estimate that approximately one-tenth of the world's known biological diversity is currently in danger of extinction, including at least one-fourth of all mammals, one-third of all primates, one-third of all amphibians, and one-eighth of all birds."

In the joint statement released today, WWF and WCS said current FWS conservation programs have been extremely successful in protecting biological diversity, despite significant budget restraints and should therefore provide the basis of a larger biodiversity conservation effort. "The number of threatened and endangered species is increasing across the globe, and the rate of extinction is unprecedented in the world's history," they wrote in the statement. "Yet the proven effectiveness of the current programs demonstrates unequivocally that these trends can be reversed when the challenges for particular species and in particular regions are confronted. We believe that a broader program can yield significantly greater successes."

Specifically, WWF and WCS are urging new legislation that would provide "an incentive-based, non-regulatory approach to protecting global priority species modeled after existing programs, and more comprehensive in scale, with a more strategic design, and an order of magnitude larger increase in funding." During his testimony, Dillon provided the Subcommittee with a white paper that details how such legislation should be developed.

"Opportunities for conserving viable populations of species and their habitats rapidly diminish with each passing year," Dillon added. "The U.S. has maintained the tradition of serving as a leader in international conservation efforts for over 100 years, and it has an opportunity to lead the world in confronting this challenge yet again."

Dillon's testimony before the House subcommittee today coincided with a Senate briefing at which renowned physician Dr. Edward O. Wilson and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dr. Eric Chivian, provided moral, economic and human health arguments for strengthening biodiversity protection. Jason Patlis, WWF's vice president for U.S. government relations, said WWF has also been working with Senators Biden, Snowe, Boxer, Lugar, Menendez, Specter, Kerry, Brownback, Stabenow, and Feingold on a sense of the Senate resolution recognizing the importance of biodiversity, which is expected to be introduced in the near future.