The Politics of Penguin Conservation

This morning's New York Times contains an article on the proposal to protect 10 species of penguins under the Endangered Species Act. One of the reasons (factors) used to justify the potential listing is climate change.

The story goes on to say that Acting on a petition by the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group based in Arizona, the service said it had enough evidence to begin a full-scale review of the 10 groups of penguins. The review is to determine things like the rates of decline and their possible causes.

The news release that spawned the NY Times story can be read here.

The irony of this move is that if the Fish and Wildlife Service listed one species of penguin or 10 or all of them it wouldn't make a damned bit of difference to the conservation or preservation of the species because none of them live within the jurisdiction of the US government and therefore are not subject to the provisions of the Endangered Species Act. The one possible hook is that if listed, the species would be on the CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) list. Fortunately there isn't much "trade" in penguins so what's the point of the listing?

The answer is simple - politics.

There is an election coming in November 2008 and the party in charge of the White House these days is a little less than stalwart on issues related to the protection of the environment. Who will ever forget "president" Chimpy McFlightsuit's rejection and evisceration of the Kyoto Protocol that exists solely to bring down the concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and thereby slow down global warming.

The Bush Administration can now list 10 species of penguins and say they are doing it to protect the birds from the ravages of global warming but the reality is nothing will change. Millions of people who went to a recent Disney movie about penguins will think that something is being done to protect the birds. The environmentally challenged Bush administration will think that they have pulled the wool over the eyes of those who care about the environment because they will think the birds are "protected." They aren't protected now by any Federal laws in the United States and listing them under the ESA won't change things one iota.

But it will make for great politics won't it? And nothing will change.