Melting sea ice and deforestation are continuing to drive many species toward extinction, with the latest Red List of Threatened Species showing that more than a quarter of all animals, plants and fungi assessed are at risk.
Three species of Arctic seals now face extinction due to global warming, while half the planet’s birds are in decline due to habitat loss. But the return of the green sea turtle shows how, with coordinated conservation efforts, things can be turned around.
The Red List, produced by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), is the most authoritative global assessment of extinction risk of species. Released today at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Abu Dhabi, the updated database includes 172,620 species of which 48,646 are threatened with extinction.
“The Red List records symptoms of extinctions,” said Jon Paul Rodríguez, chair of IUCN’s Sp
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