2007: Year of the Dolphin (and no, it's not a Chinese year)

Sadly and shamefully, the end of 2006 saw the end of the baiji. The baiji is was a freshwater dolphin that lived in China's Yangtze River for some 20 million years, commonly known as the Chinese river dolphin.

And things are not looking too good for other species as well. 2007 has been declared by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the UN Convention on Migratory Species - together with its specialized agreements on dolphin conservation ACCOBAMS and ASCOBANS and the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS) - as the Year of the Dolphin.

If conservation efforts are intensified and more people -particularly governments and companies- become aware that we are wiping out species that existed long before us, we may have a chance in hell to keep hope and dwindling species alive.

Sites:

Year of the Dolphin site

baiji.org | Foundation - networking Expertise for Conservation of Freshwater Biodiversity

The Big Question: How quickly are animals and plants disappearing, and does it matter?

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