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Who will pay to save the frogs?
A group of 50 researchers called this week for renewed efforts to save frogs and other amphibians, which they say are in severe decline around the world, “part of an overall biodiversity crisis,” said Andrew Blaustein, a professor of zoology at Oregon State University.
First they have to do the real hard part: raise money.
Nearly a third of the 5,743 known amphibian species are threatened, the scientists wrote Friday in the journal Science. Amphibians have been on this planet for more than 300 million years, surviving whatever wiped out the dinosaurs. So their recent dramatic decline has alarmed many scientists. One of the leading problems is a fungus that causes an infectious disease called chytridiomycosis. When introduced to a region, amphibian populations can disappear rapidly—sometimes within six months, the researchers said.
The scientists call for the establishment of a new Amphibian Survival Alliance, a $400 million initiative to stem the decline. The effort would be a more organized approach to managing disease, pollution, habitat loss and invasive species. The pitch has been floating around since last year. So I asked Joseph R. Mendelson III, curator of herpetology at Zoo Atlanta and one of the idea’s proponents, where the money would come from.
The project would raise money through a fundraising campaign directed at foundations, private donors, national governments, and global organizations like the World Bank, Mendelson said.
“Indeed, $400 million seems like a lot of money, until you realize that this is less than the price of two 747 aircraft,” Mendelson told me. “As we have acknowledged the existence of a contemporary extinction event, this seems a small price to pay for supporting basic research and conservation programs to confront it.”
Climate change, commercial trade of wildlife and pollution might all increase the movement or susceptibility to the fungus.
“There are a lot of concerns, and we should work to address all of them, not just one,” Blaustein said. “At first we need to focus our efforts on research so we have a better idea of what types of recovery programs will best work, and then we need active projects in the field.”
And foremost they need a pile of money. Perhaps one of the world’s wealthy philanthropists or entrepreneurs will help. A similar effort to save tigers this week got a $10 million pledge from a venture capital firm. It’ll be interesting to see in coming years, with some scientists saying that a mass extinction of historic proportion is underway among Earth’s creatures, whether this type of funding will catch on.
by Robert Roy Britt
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