|
About | Contact | Mongabay on Facebook | Mongabay on Twitter | Subscribe |
|
|
16,306 species threatened with extinction mongabay.com September 12, 2007 40% of species assessed by IUCN are threatened with extinction. New tally represents a 1.2 percent increase (187 species) in listed species since 2006 update
"This year's IUCN Red List shows that the invaluable efforts made so far to protect species are not enough," said Julia Marton-Lefèvre, Director General of the World Conservation Union (IUCN). "The rate of biodiversity loss is increasing and we need to act now to significantly reduce it and stave off this global extinction crisis. This can be done, but only with a concerted effort by all levels of society." The IUCN Red List is considered the most authoritative assessment of the global status of plants and animals. It classifies species according to their extinction risk and is available online as a searchable database.
For the 2007 Red List update, IUCN highlighted the continuing decline of several groups including the great apes, the baiji, and vultures. The organization added corals to the list for the first time. Among the great apes, the Western Gorilla (Gorilla gorilla) saw the biggest change in status, moving from Endangered to Critically Endangered, after the discovery that the main subspecies, the Western Lowland Gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla), has been hard hit by the commercial bushmeat trade and the Ebola virus. IUCN said that their population has declined by more than 60% over the last two decades, with about one third of the total population found in protected areas killed by the Ebola virus over the last 15 years. In Asia, IUCN notes that the Sumatran Orangutan (Pongo abelii) remains in the Critically Endangered category and the Bornean Orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) in the Endangered category. Both species are threatened by habitat loss due to illegal and legal logging, forest fires, poaching, and forest clearance for palm oil plantations. The U.N. Environment Program (UNEP) warns that 98 percent of orangutan habitat will be gone by 2022. The organization said that five species of vulture have reclassified on the IUCN Red List as the birds are increasingly poisoned by the use of diclofenac, a drug used to treat livestock to kill livestock predators. IUCN said that populations are further declining from reduction in wild grazing mammals, habitat loss and collision with power lines. Among aquatic species, IUCN acknowledged the likely disappearance of the Yangtze river dolphin, or baiji, after extensive surveys failed to produce a single dolphin. While a sighting was reported in August and is currently being investigated, the outlook is poor for the species. Should its extinction be confirmed, the baiji would be the first large aquatic mammal to disappear since the Caribbean monk seal in the 1950s. IUCN said the aquarium trade is taking a toll on the Banggai Cardinalfish (Pterapogon kauderni), which was added to the list for the first time. IUCN estimates that 900,000 Banggai Cardinalfish are extracted from their habitat in the Banggai Archipelago, near Sulawesi, Indonesia every year. IUCN said that only a single species has moved to a lower category of endangerment: The Mauritius Echo Parakeet (Psittacula eques), which moved from Critically Endangered to Endangered. IUCN attributes the improvement to successful conservation action, including close monitoring of nesting sites and supplementary feeding combined with a captive breeding and release program. "From previous experience, we know that conservation can work, but unfortunately this year we are documenting an improvement for only one species," Jean-Christophe Vié, Deputy Head of IUCN's Species Programme. "This is really worrying in light of government commitments around the world, such as the 2010 target to slow down the rate of biodiversity loss. Clearly, this shows that much more needs to be done to support the work of thousands of enthusiastic people working everyday throughout the world to preserve the diversity of life on this planet." "Conservation networks dedicated to fighting the extinction crisis, such as the Species Survival Commission, are working effectively. But much more help and support is needed as environmentalists cannot do it alone," Holly Dublin, Chair of IUCN's Species Survival Commission, added. "The challenge of the extinction crisis also requires attention and action from the general public, the private sector, governments and policy makers to ensure that global biodiversity remains intact for generations to come." Many scientists say Earth is presently in the midst of a sixth great extinction, the Holocene. Unlike previous mass extinctions in the past -- the Ordovician, the Devonian, the Permian, the Triassic and the Cretaceous -- the current extinction event results directly from human activities, including habitat destruction, overexploitation, and the introduction of alien species to environments where they do not occur naturally. Scientists estimate that extinction rates are presently 1,000-10,000 times the historical background rate of about 1 species per million per year. They say that extinction rates will significantly increase in coming years, especially as the impacts of climate change intensify. More articles on extinction Comments? News options
Tags: extinction apes gorillas biodiversity Bushmeat birds pet trade wildlife trafficking deforestation wildlife animals mammals primates baiji conservation endangered species amphibians in-situ conservation ex-situ conservation orangutans green News index | RSS | News Feed | Twitter | Home Advertisements: Organic Apparel from Patagonia | Insect-repelling clothing
|
WEEKLY NEWSLETTER 
Photos HIGH RESOLUTION PHOTOS / PRINTS 
CALENDARS 
CANVAS BAGS 
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Copyright mongabay 2010 Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions generated from mongabay.com operations (server, data transfer, travel) are mitigated through an association with Anthrotect, an organization working with Afro-indigenous and Embera communities to protect forests in Colombia's Darien region. Anthrotect is protecting the habitat of mongabay's mascot: the scale-crested pygmy tyrant. |
