Biological diversity is more threatened now than at any time in the past. Tropica deforestation is the main cubrittBut the de struction of wetlands, coral reefs and tem- perate forests also figures heavily. Germany and the Netherlands lost nearly 60% of their wetlands between 1950 and 1980, And a recent analysis of tropical forest tats, which contain 50-90% of the world's species, concluded that, at current rates of loss, up to 15% of the earth's species could disappear over the next 25 years. Today, on- ly 45% of the world's temperate rainforests remain