GENEVA, Switzerland, September 28, 2000 (ENS) - Earth's most critically
endangered animals and plants have disappeared very rapidly since 1996, the
world's largest international conservation organisation reported today. One
in four mammal species and one in eight species of birds are facing a high
risk of extinction in the near future, in almost all cases as a result of
human activities. The total number of threatened animal species has increased
from 5,205 to 5,435.
The 2000 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species is released once every four
years by IUCN - The World Conservation Union. The Red List is considered
the most authoritative and comprehensive status assessment of global
biodiversity.
Female Ethiopian Wolf greeting her cubs. The world's most threatened
canid, the Ethiopian Wolf (Canis simensis), lives only in the highlands of
Ethiopia. There are fewer than 400 adult individuals surviving. (Photo by
Dada Gottelii courtesy IUCN)
Founded in 1948, the IUCN brings together 77 states, 112 government agencies,
735 non-governmental organizations, 35 affiliates, and some 10,000 scientists
and experts from 181 countries in a worldwide partnership.
Drawing on all these sources of information, the Red List report uses scientific
criteria to classify species into one of eight categories: Extinct, Extinct
in the Wild, Critically Endangered, Endangered, Vulnerable, Lower Risk, Data
Deficient and Not Evaluated.
A species is classed as threatened if it falls in the Critically Endangered,
Endangered or Vulnerable categories.
"The fact that the number of critically endangered species has increased
- mammals from 169 to 180; birds from 168 to 182 - was a jolting surprise,
even to those already familiar with today's increasing threats to biodiversity.
These findings should be taken very seriously by the global community," says
Maritta von Bieberstein Koch-Weser, IUCN's director general. The magnitude
of risk, shown by movements to the higher risk categories, has increased,
although the overall percentage of threatened mammals and birds has not greatly
changed in four years, the IUCN found.
PRIMATES' STATUS PRECARIOUS
Primates such as apes and monkeys showed the greatest increase in the number
of threatened mammals, from 96 to 116 species. Many changes were found to
be caused by increased habitat loss and hunting, particularly the bushmeat
trade.
Red-shanked Douc Langur (Pygathrix nemaeus) is an Endangered Asian
colobine monkey found in south central Viet Nam and parts of neighboring
Laos. It is threatened by habitat destruction and hunting for food and for
body parts, used to prepare traditional medicines. (Photo by Bill Konstant
courtesy IUCN)
The number of Critically Endangered primates increased from 13 to 19. Endangered
primates number 46 today, up from 29 four years ago. Russell Mittermeier,
president of Conservation International and chair of IUCN's Primate Specialist
Group says, "The Red List is solid documentation of the global extinction
crisis, and it reveals just the tip of the iceberg." "Many wonderful creatures
will be lost in the first few decades of the 21st century unless we greatly
increase levels of support, involvement and commitment to conservation, he
warns.
"Human and financial resources must be mobilised at between 10 and 100 times
the current level to address this crisis, the Red List analysis urges.
Indonesia, India, Brazil and China are among the countries with the most
threatened mammals and birds, while plant species are declining rapidly in
South and Central America, Central and West Africa, and Southeast Asia. Habitat
loss and habitat degradation affect 89 percent of all threatened birds, 83
percent of mammals, and 91 percent of threatened plants assessed. Habitats
with the highest number of threatened mammals and birds are lowland and mountain
tropical rainforest.
As in 1996, Indonesia has the highest number of threatened mammals, 135 species.
India with 80 threatened mammal species and Brazil with 75 threatened species
have moved ahead of China where 72 species are threatened.
FRAGILE FRESH WATER SPECIES
Freshwater habitats are "extremely vulnerable" with many threatened fish,
reptile, amphibian and invertebrate species. Freshwater turtles, heavily
exploited for food and medicinal use in Asia, went from 10 to 24 Critically
Endangered species in the past four years.
 Asian
Three-striped Box Turtle (Cuora trifasciata) is one of the most Critically
Endangered freshwater turtles in Asia. (Photo by Krut Buhlman courtesy
IUCN)
"Hunting of these species is unregulated and unmanaged, and the harvest levels
are far too high for the species to sustain," the IUCN warns. As populations
disappear in Southeast Asia, there are signs that this trade is increasingly
shifting to India and further afield to the Americas and Africa.
Other Asian species, such as snakes and salamanders, are also heavily exploited
for use in traditional Chinese medicine, but the effects of this and other
pressures on most of these species have not yet been assessed.
A number of amphibian species have shown rapid and unexplained disappearances,
for example in Australia, Costa Rica, Panama and Puerto Rico, the IUCN reports.
The report points to "extremely serious deterioration" in the status of river
dwelling species largely due to water development projects and other habitat
changes. One of the major threats to lake dwelling species is introduced
species. A systematic analysis of the status of these species will be undertaken
in the next three years.
BIRDS AT RISK
BirdLife International produced the global status analysis that forms a major
component of the Red List. The most significant changes have been in the
albatrosses and petrels, with an increase from 32 to 55 threatened species.
 Wandering
Albatross (Diomedea exulans) is one of 16 albatross species identified as
globally threatened in the 2000 Red List. (Photo by Tony Palliser courtesy
IUCN)
Sixteen albatross species are now threatened compared to only three in 1996,
as a result of longline fishing. Of the remaining five albatross species,
four are now near-threatened. Threatened penguin species have doubled from
five to 10. These increases reflect the growing threats to the marine
environment," the IUCN reports.
BirdLife International has started an international campaign "Save the albatross:
keeping the world's seabirds off the hook" to reduce the accidental bycatch
of seabirds through longline fisheries adopting appropriate mitigation measures.
The Philippines, another biodiversity hotspot, has lost 97 percent
of its original vegetation and has more Critically Endangered birds than
any other country.
IMPERILLED PLANTS
The IUCN Red List includes 5,611 species of threatened plants, many of which
are trees.
The total number of globally threatened plant species is still small in relation
to the total number of plant species, but this is because most plant species
have still not been assessed for their level of threat, IUCN says.
The only major plant group to have been comprehensively assessed is the conifers,
of which 140 species, 16 percent of the total, are threatened.
Assessments undertaken by The Nature Conservancy, not yet incorporated in
the Red List, indicate that one-third of the plant species in North America
are threatened.
THE NUMBERS
In the last 500 years, human activity has forced 816 species to extinction
or extinction in the wild.
Bastard Quiver tree (Aloe pillansii) is a Critically Endangered
tree aloe living in the Richtersveld area of the Northern Cape, South Africa
and southern Namibia. Fewer than 200 mature individuals survive. The species
is the focus of a new survey and possible reintroduction program by members
of the IUCN/SSC Southern African Plant Specialist Group. (Photo by Craig
Hilton-Taylor courtesy IUCN)
One hundred and three extinctions have occurred since 1800, indicating an
extinction rate 50 times greater than the natural rate. Many species are
lost before they are discovered. The 1996 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals
included 169 Critically Endangered and 315 Endangered mammals. The 2000 analysis
now lists 180 Critically Endangered and 340 Endangered mammals.
For birds, there is an increase from 168 to 182 Critically Endangered and
from 235 to 321 Endangered species.
A total of 18,276 species and subspecies are included in the 2000 Red List.
Approximately 25 percent of reptiles, 20 percent of amphibians and 30 percent
of fishes, mainly freshwater, so far assessed are listed as threatened.
Since only a small proportion of these groups has been assessed, the percentage
of threatened species could be much higher, the IUCN says.
As well as classifying species according to their extinction risk, the Red
List provides information on species range, population trends, main habitats,
major threats and conservation measures, both already in place, and those
needed. It allows insight into the processes driving extinction.
The release of the 2000 Red List comes a week before the second World
Conservation Congress in Amman, Jordan, where members of IUCN will meet to
define global conservation policy for the next four years, including ways
of addressing the growing extinction crisis.
The 2000 IUCN Red List has been produced for the first time on CD-ROM and
is searchable on its own website at
http://www.redlist.org/. The analysis
is published as a booklet.
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