Arctic seals are heading towards extinction due to climate change, and more than half of the world's bird species are declining in population. under pressure from deforestation and agricultural expansion, according to an annual assessment by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
One bright spot is green. sea turtleswhich have largely recovered thanks to decades of conservation efforts, the IUCN said Friday as it published its latest Red List of Threatened Species.
While many animals are increasingly at risk of becoming extinct forever, the updated list shows how species can come back from the brink with dedicated efforts, Rima Jabado, vice chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission, told The Associated Press.
“Hope and anxiety go hand in hand in this work,” Jabado wrote in an email. “The same persistence that brought back the green sea turtle can be reflected in small, everyday actions—supporting sustainable choices, supporting conservation initiatives, and calling on leaders to deliver on their environmental promises.”
The list is updated every year by teams of scientists assessing data on creatures around the world. The amount of work is enormous and scientifically important, said Andrew Farnsworth, a visiting scientist at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology who studies bird migration and was not involved in the IUCN report.
“Every time something is done and every time it is revised, there is more information and more opportunities to answer questions” about species, some of which are still largely a mystery to researchers, Farnsworth said.
Because all marine mammals that live in the Arctic – seals, whales and polar bears – rely on the habitat provided sea ice, they are all at risk as it declines due to man-made climate change, said Keith Kovacs, co-chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission's pinniped specialist group, which specializes in seals.
Three species identified in the latest IUCN report – the harp seal, the hooded seal and the bearded seal – were downgraded to high concern in the latest update, indicating that they are increasingly at risk of extinction, Kovacs said.
The same melting glaciers and sea ice that destroy seal habitat “would typically lead to an escalation of the extreme weather events that are already affecting people around the world,” Kovacs writes.
“Helping seals is helping humanity when it comes to climate change,” Kovacs said.
The update also highlights Madagascar, West Africa and Central America, where Schlegel's asiti, the black-helmeted hornbill and the bobbing-tailed northern nightingale-wren have been downgraded to critically endangered status. These are three specific birds in trouble, but their numbers are declining in about three-fifths of birds worldwide.
Tropical deforestation is among the “daunting threats” to birds, on a list that includes agricultural expansion and intensification, competition from invasive species and climate change, said Stuart Butchart, chief scientist at BirdLife International.
“The fact that 61% of the world's birds are declining is an alarming signal that we cannot ignore,” Butchart said.
Annual UN Climate Summit will take place in November in Belem, Brazil, and will focus heavily on the Amazon and the value of the rainforest to people and animals. But Cornell's Farnsworth said he's “not so confident” that world leaders will take decisive action to protect endangered bird species.
“I'd like to think that things like birds are impartial and you can find common ground,” he said. “But it's not easy.”
One success story is the resurgence of green sea turtles in many parts of the world's oceans. Experts see this as a bright spot because it shows how effective human interventions such as legal protections and conservation programs can be.
However, “it’s important to note that sea turtle conservation efforts can take decades to realize the fruits of that labor,” said Justin Perreault, vice president of research at the Loggerhead Marine Life Center in Juno Beach, Florida, who was not involved in the IUCN report.
The overall success of green sea turtles should be celebrated and used as an example for other species, some of which, such as hawksbill and leatherback turtles, are not doing as well, said Nicholas Pilcher, executive director of the Marine Research Foundation.
And even for green sea turtles, there are still areas where climate change and other factors such as erosion are damaging habitat, Pilcher said, and some of them are poorer communities that receive less conservation funding.
But in places where they have recovered, it's “a great story that we can actually do something about this,” Pilcher said. “We can. We can make a difference.”
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