tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261748503426298041.post2553575750899245140..comments2023-10-21T13:04:34.038-07:00Comments on Our Place in the World: A Journal of Ecosocialism: 433. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Agrees to Move 757 Species toward Federal ProtectionKamran Nayerihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13737979861971221811noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261748503426298041.post-50442406016769273652011-07-14T07:45:03.955-07:002011-07-14T07:45:03.955-07:00The ESA is a strong law...Really?
Has the Endanger...The ESA is a strong law...Really?<br />Has the Endangered Species Act reduced the rate of extinction in the United States? There are 1,925 species officially listed as threatened or endangered under the law. However, these “listed species” are only a small fraction of all the species whose survival is actually imperiled. The exact size of this fraction is difficult to determine because there are thousands of plants and animals we know little or nothing about. Estimates of the actual number of species in jeopardy of extinction in the US range from 6,480 to 165,000. This means that the 1,925 species listed for protection are somewhere between 1 and 30 percent of all US species actually facing extinction. Therefore, 70 to 99 percent of all imperiled creatures in the US receive no ESA protection whatsoever.<br /><br />The arduous listing process is one of the ESA’s most onerous defects. Listing species for protection one-by-one, instead of preserving the integrity of entire ecosystems, is an expensive, rigorous, time consuming ordeal constrained by scientific ignorance, bureaucratic intransigence, political pressure, partisan politics and budgetary shortfalls. Species designated as “candidates for listing” wait an average of 20 years to get listed. Meanwhile, many go extinct.<br /><br />But even species lucky enough to be listed have a slim chance of survival. Of the 1,925 species protected by the ESA, only 19 have recovered enough to make it off the list. This is a 1 percent recovery rate! Only 10 percent of all listed species are considered improving, 30 percent are considered stable and 60 percent continue to slip toward extinction. This abysmal record is the result of several legal loopholes.NTROPEEhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00095279981135270696noreply@blogger.com