Warning of World Ecological Decline

Loss of political will called part of problem

Harry Dunphy / AP 14jan01

WASHINGTON - Melting Arctic ice, dying frogs and the destruction of coral reefs are signs of a growing world ecological decline, an environment research group said in a report yesterday.

Worldwatch Institute said these changes have coincided with an apparent loss of political momentum on environmental issues, demonstrated in November when global warming talks collapsed.

"If, in the current climate of political and economic uncertainty, political leaders were to roll back environmental laws or fail to complete key international agreements, decades of progress could unravel," said Christopher Flavin, president of

the institute and co-author of its annual State of the World report.

In addition to melting Arctic ice caused by the burning of fossil fuels, other environmental stresses include "the worldwide decline of many species of frogs, salamanders and other amphibia" due to pressures that range from deforestation to ozone depletion, the report said.

Worldwatch researchers also said marine biologists estimate that onequarter of the coral reefs in the world's tropical oceans are sick or dying. In some areas of the Pacific, the figure is as high as 90 percent,

Flavin expressed concern about what he said was the anti-environmental rhetoric of the Bush campaign during the presidential election. President-elect Bush has made oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska a major part of his energy plan and is expected to try to ease restrictions on logging in national forests.

"The early signs are not terribly good in terms of (Bush's) ties to the oil industry and extractive industries, which have been key opponents on the climate issue," Flavin said.

"If the United States retreats to a more defensive view of global environment threats, it would create a leadership vacuum" that might encourage environmental groups to push the 15-nation European Union to take a more active role, he said.

Two weeks of international talks in the Netherlands on how to cut pollution that is warming the planet ended in failure Nov. 25, after disputes between the United States and the European Union proved insurmountable.

The issue blocking agreement was whether and to what extent countries should be allowed to count the carbon dioxide absorbed by forests and farmlands toward their emissions reduction targets.