A plan approved by a recent environmental meeting in Washington, D.C., to save the world's amphibians from extinction may cost more than $400 million.
The money for the plan backed by the U.N.'s biodiversity agency -- the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources -- is designed to save the world's frogs, toads and salamanders from oblivion, the BBC reported Tuesday.
The money would pay for protection of habitats, for disease prevention and captive-breeding projects for five years, as well as supporting the ability to respond to environmental emergencies.
Scientists told the BBC about a third of the world's amphibian species are at a high risk of extinction.
"Many species have already become extinct through habitat loss," said Rohan Pethiyagoda, deputy chairman of the U.N.'s species survival commission. "The extent of these declines and extinctions is without precedent in any class of animals over the last few millennia."
Copyright 2005 by United Press International
