ID :
187492
Thu, 06/09/2011 - 14:23
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/187492
The shortlink copeid
Australia has poor record on CO2: Goodall
SYDNEY (AAP) - June 9 - Australia has copped a serve from renowned conservationist and primate expert Jane Goodall, who has criticised the country's poor track record on carbon emissions.
The UN messenger for peace, visiting Melbourne on Thursday, also highlighted the rapid extinction levels of Australia's wildlife.
While Dr Goodall wouldn't be drawn on the current carbon tax debate, she said the globe was heating up and the best way to slow global warming was to protect and restore forests.
"Should we pay for the pollution we are using? Well something has to happen," she said.
"Australia has a very bad track record in the amount of CO2 emissions you produce here."
Dr Goodall said Australia also had a disappointing conservation record.
"You can see that with the rapid levels of extinction of the amazing animals you have here," Dr Goodall said.
Since Dr Goodall began studying chimpanzees in Tanzania more than 50 years ago, she has seen a number of startling changes which threaten the world.
Most are man-made, including the drastic depletion of the chimpanzee population from the one to two million of a century ago.
She said the future would be grim if the conservation of rainforests and wildlife wasn't addressed now.
"Today, thanks to human expansion of populations, urbanisation, the onslaught of the foreign logging companies in previously impenetrable rainforests, the chimpanzees today are thought to number (at) maximum 300,000," Dr Goodall said at Melbourne Zoo.
"When I look at what we have done to this planet since I was a child it's shocking.
"We can go on and on and on with this list of harm that we have inflicted."
Dr Goodall has established the youth program Roots and Shoots to show young people they can make a difference if they band together and all play a part.
"I was meeting so many young people who had lost hope for their future because they looked around them and they saw their future compromised by our actions, and told me there was nothing they could do about it," said Dr Goodall.
The UN messenger for peace, visiting Melbourne on Thursday, also highlighted the rapid extinction levels of Australia's wildlife.
While Dr Goodall wouldn't be drawn on the current carbon tax debate, she said the globe was heating up and the best way to slow global warming was to protect and restore forests.
"Should we pay for the pollution we are using? Well something has to happen," she said.
"Australia has a very bad track record in the amount of CO2 emissions you produce here."
Dr Goodall said Australia also had a disappointing conservation record.
"You can see that with the rapid levels of extinction of the amazing animals you have here," Dr Goodall said.
Since Dr Goodall began studying chimpanzees in Tanzania more than 50 years ago, she has seen a number of startling changes which threaten the world.
Most are man-made, including the drastic depletion of the chimpanzee population from the one to two million of a century ago.
She said the future would be grim if the conservation of rainforests and wildlife wasn't addressed now.
"Today, thanks to human expansion of populations, urbanisation, the onslaught of the foreign logging companies in previously impenetrable rainforests, the chimpanzees today are thought to number (at) maximum 300,000," Dr Goodall said at Melbourne Zoo.
"When I look at what we have done to this planet since I was a child it's shocking.
"We can go on and on and on with this list of harm that we have inflicted."
Dr Goodall has established the youth program Roots and Shoots to show young people they can make a difference if they band together and all play a part.
"I was meeting so many young people who had lost hope for their future because they looked around them and they saw their future compromised by our actions, and told me there was nothing they could do about it," said Dr Goodall.
