Red List

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) published alarming statistics this week on what it deems an "extinction crisis."

The IUCN's annual report reveals that 36 percent of species assessed by the agency are threatened with extinction. The report further claims that 21 percent of all known mammals, 12 percent of birds and 28 percent of reptiles face extinction.

The authors cite a variety of factors that contribute to the extinction crisis, including forest destruction, pollution, overharvesting, habitat loss and disease.

Amphibians face the greatest level of threat among any species recorded by the IUCN to date. The Red List reveals that 1,895 of the 6,285 amphibian species on Earth are threatened with extinction.

Plants fare even worse in the report. 70 percent of plants are in danger of extinction, according to the IUCN.

Crisis possibly more severe than we know

The Red List's alarming statistics do not represent a complete picture of the state of the planet's species.

In fact, the situation may be worse than it seems. According to Craig Hilton-Taylor, the manager of the IUCN Red List Unit, the results are "just the tip of the iceberg."

"We have only managed to assess 47,663 species so far; there are many millions more out there which could be under serious threat," he said.

In the meantime the IUCN stresses that action can be taken to prevent extinction. The threats faced by fish, amphibians and aquatic plants make water use a particularly important issue in coming years, according to Jean-Christophe Vié, Deputy Head of the IUCN Species Program.

"There is now an urgency to pursue our effort but most importantly to start using this information to move towards a wise use of water resources," he explained.

gw/IUCN/AFP
Editor: Mark Mattox