Red alert over continuing loss of species

The World Conservation Union

IUCN Red List update shows up global failure to slow biodiversity loss

The latest update of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species should cause alarm over the continuing unprecedented loss of species and the failure so far of mechanisms to arrest biodiversity loss, WWF said today. The 2009 Red List, issued by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, shows that more than one-third (36 percent) of the 47,677 species assessed are threatened with extinction.

The Red List ranks species according to their population status and threat levels. It shows the impact that loss and degradation of habitat, over-exploitation, pollutants and climate change are having on the world's species.

This year's assessment included a special focus on freshwater species which are being hit hard by pollution, loss of wetlands and water diversions. The planet's amphibians are the most threatened of all species with 1,895 of 6,285 species assessed in the Red List threatened with extinction.

"The continued and unprecedented loss of species must not be accepted as just a sad reality we can do nothing about. Biodiversity loss is an alarming indicator of the general health of our planet and for the wellbeing of our own species. We must act to halt this decline," said Mark Wright, conservation science advisor at WWF-UK.

"In 2002, a globally endorsed commitment on the Convention on Biological Diversity promised to deliver a significant reduction in the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010. We're not even close to meeting this. This failure and the mechanisms to overcome it will need to be the dominant agenda item on next year's meeting of the parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity."

Through its global initiatives, WWF is pursuing major efforts to arrest this decline in biodiversity in some of the most spectacular places on the planet, and to recover populations of some of the most endangered species, such as tigers. It is estimated that less than 3,200 tigers exist in the wild in a wide arc of countries from far eastern Russia to India and Indonesia. There is 40% less tiger habitat today than just 10 years ago. As tigers require a large home range, protection of the species and its habitat bring huge benefits to thousands of other species. An international summit scheduled for 2010 in Vladivostok in Russia is a critical opportunity to reverse the decline in tiger numbers and ensure their survival in the wild.

"Tigers are a symbol of what is happening to many species across the globe, and demonstrate the urgent need for the world to come up with the political will, policies, resources and incentives to maintain a living and diverse planet," said Amanda Nickson, director of WWF International's Species Programme. "The IUCN is frank that its assessments are likely to understate the real extent of the loss of species."

The assessment of freshwater species continued to alarm, with more than one third of assessed freshwater fishes under threat of extinction and approaching half of all molluscs. In Lake Dianchi in China, the assessment found all seven freshwater snails and 12 of the 13 freshwater fish species new to the Red List were threatened by overharvesting, pollution and introduced fish species.

However, in a rare ray of hope in the new assessment, one freshwater fish, the Australian Grayling has been moved from being listed as Vulnerable to being listed as Near Threatened as a result of conservation efforts which included putting fish ladders on dams, improving streamside vegetation and policing anglers.

Significant international meetings next year to address biodiversity loss and the threats to planetary life support systems include a major Conferences of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

FURTHER INFORMATION:
www.iucnredlist.org
www.wwf.org.uk

Global figures for 2009 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species:
· Total species assessed = 47,677
· Total Extinct or Extinct in the Wild = 875 (2%) [Extinct = 809; Extinct in the Wild = 66].
· Total threatened = 17,291 (36%) [Critically Endangered = 3,325; Endangered = 4,891; Vulnerable = 9,075].
· Total Near Threatened = 3,650 (8%).
· Total Lower Risk/conservation dependent = 281 [this is an old category that is gradually being phased out of the Red List]
· Total Data Deficient = 6,557 (14%)
· Total Least Concern = 19,023 (40%)

PLEASE NOTE: Not all species on the IUCN Red List are threatened. There are now more species on the IUCN Red List. This means that the overall percentage of threatened species has gone down by two percent. This is not because the status of the world's biodiversity is improving, but because we have assessed more species. In the past, Red List assessments often focused on species that were already thought to be threatened, but as the Red List grows to include more complete assessments across entire groups, we are beginning to have a better idea of the relative proportion of species which are threatened against those which are not threatened.
Benjamin Ward
Head of Press and Media Relations
WWF-UK