UN scientists estimate 150-200 species going extinct per day. I used the number 175, and assumed a 10% reduction right away to conservatively calculate the number of 574,875.

The UN treaty, signed 10/30/10, was pathetically weak; even then the US did not sign it, because they never ratified the UN’s Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

More info: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/10/30

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Protect nature for world economic security, warns UN biodiversity chief
John Vidal, Guardian.co.uk
Aug. 16, 2010

Excerpt:

“What we are seeing today is a total disaster,” said Ahmed Djoghlaf, the secretary-general of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. “No country has met its targets to protect nature. We are losing biodiversity at an unprecedented rate. If current levels [of destruction] go on we will reach a tipping point very soon. The future of the planet now depends on governments taking action in the next few years.”

Industrialisation, population growth, the spread of cities and farms and climate change are all now threatening the fundamentals of life itself, said Djoghlaf, in London before a key UN meeting where governments are expected to sign up to a more ambitious agreement to protect nature.

Read the rest of the article here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/16/nature-economic-security