Updated 22 May 2003, 14.12

Fossil fuel burning

Plant expert Dr Peter Raven says countries like Britain and America are wiping out species and destroying the planet.

He says it's the richest countries in the world who are mostly to blame.

We only know 1.5 million of the 10 million species alive on the planet, according to Dr Raven.

			Fact File
	What's the damage?
		Texas Red Wolf extinct
		33% of forests lost
		As few as 20,000 lions left in Africa
		6-8% of Ozone layer lost
		Vegas Valley Leopard Frog extinct
		Bali Tiger extinct
		Kamchutka Bear extinct

Extinction

But we'll wipe out many of the ones we haven't even discovered yet, without knowing they ever existed.

Animals like South Africa's penguins need monitoring because they're in danger.

And the Andean guanaco, thought to be the ancestor of the llama, is vanishing.

Dr Raven claims if everyone on earth lived like people in the rich countries, we'd need two more planets to support the population.

He says to survive we must stop population growth and cut down the natural resources we use.

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