A fifth of world's vertebrates faces extinction
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COMMENTS 
Efforts to save endangered animals seem to be making little difference, with a fifth of the world’s mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish threatened with extinction, says a new analysis
A fifth of the world’s mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish are in imminent danger of becoming extinct, says this year’s edition of the benchmark International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. The percentages for threatened invertebrates and plants are similar.
Releasing the findings at the October 18-29 UN Biodiversity Summit, attended by 192 countries, in Nagoya, Japan, Simon Stuart, Chair of the Species Survival Commission, said the findings on vertebrates showed that “nature’s backbone is at risk”.
Around 3,000 scientists from around the world have worked to put this IUCN Red List together. They have found that 25% of all mammals, 13% of birds, 41% of amphibians, 22% of reptiles and 15% of fish risk extinction, mostly due to loss of habitat, and some due to over-hunting.
A recent study by Kew Botanical Gardens found that around 6 million species -- 20% of all plants and invertebrates -- also face the threat of extinction.
But it’s not all bad news. The IUCN says 64 species improved their status in the Red List, moving from ‘critically endangered’ to ‘endangered’. Stuart said all these were in areas that had been protected, “proving the importance of conservation”. Results show that the status of biodiversity would have declined by at least an additional 20% if conservation action had not been taken.
The successes include three species that were extinct in the wild and have since been reintroduced back to nature: the California condor and the black-footed ferret in the US, and Przewalski’s horse in Mongolia.
Conservation efforts have been particularly successful at combating invasive alien species on islands. The global population of the Seychelles magpie robin increased from fewer than 15 birds in 1965 to 180 in 2006 through control of introduced predators like the brown rat. In Mauritius, six bird species have undergone recoveries in status, including the Mauritius kestrel whose population has increased from just four birds in 1974 to nearly 1,000.
But very few amphibians -- the most threatened vertebrates -- have shown signs of recovery.
This year’s study used data for 25,000 species from the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, to investigate the status of the world’s vertebrates (mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish) and how this status has changed over time. The results show that, on average, 50 species of mammals, birds and amphibians move closer to extinction each year due to the impacts of agricultural expansion, logging, over-exploitation and invasive alien species.
“The ‘backbone’ of biodiversity is being eroded,” said the doyen of ecologists, Edward O Wilson of Harvard University. “One small step up the Red List is one giant leap forward towards extinction. This is just a small window on the global losses currently taking place.”
Southeast Asia has experienced the most dramatic recent losses, largely driven by the planting of export crops like oil palm, commercial hardwood timber operations, agricultural conversion to rice paddies, and unsustainable hunting.
Recently, a UN-sponsored study called The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) calculated the cost of losing nature at $2-5 trillion per year, predominantly in poorer parts of the world. A recent study found one-fifth of more than 5,000 freshwater species in Africa are threatened, putting the livelihoods of millions of people dependent on these vital resources at risk.
Source: The Hindu, October 27, 2010
IANS, October 26, 2010