Red List increases

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It’s that time of year, when a few dedicated individuals and organisations sit down and work out how much qorse things have gotten since the previous year.

Coming under the direction of the IUCN - the World Conservation Union - the 2004 Red List of Threatened Species managed to increase the list of threatened species by over 3000 species on the previous 2003 list., resulting in a threatened species list of 15,568 species facing extinction.

This included such tragedies as half the freshwater fish species native only to Madagascar becoming endangered by the diversion of rivers for domestic drinking water projects.

One in three amphibians and almost half of all freshwater turtles are now threatened, as well as one in eight birds and a quarter of known mammals.

For the first time, the Red List includes an index that shows the overall change in threatened status and the projected risk of extinction for each particular species group. The conclusion is that there is an even greater sense of urgency, says Simon Stuart at Conservation International, Washington DC, US.

More information here: Rise in threatened species is accelerating