Four out of six of the Earth’s great apes are now critically endangered, “only one step away from going extinct”, including the Eastern Gorilla, Western Gorilla, Bornean Orangutan and Sumatran Orangutan, the IUCN said. Its greatest threat is illegal hunting.
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The newest update to the list includes 82,954 species, 23,928 of which are threatened with extinction. The target is to increase that coverage to 160,000 species by 2020. The giant panda’s “endangered” classification was downgraded amid rising numbers, but the eastern gorilla is now considered close to extinction.
“A takeaway point we would like to emphasise is we are not journeying in the right direction with respect to species conservation”, Andersen said.
“This reclassification recognises decades of successful conservation efforts led by the Chinese government and demonstrates that investment in the conservation of iconic species like giant pandas does pay off – and benefits our society as well as species”, said Lo Sze Ping, Chief Executive of the China office of WWF, which has had a panda as its global logo since 1961.
“The change of the panda’s status on the Red List will help to alter the pessimistic view of the public when it comes to panda protection, as many still hold the outdated opinion that pandas are in grave danger”, Wei said.
“The population has reduced by 24 per cent in the past 14 years from around 660,000 to a current estimate of just over 500,000 animals”, the IUCN said. Hunting was also reduced.
The IUCN warns, however, that over 35 percent of the panda’s bamboo habitat may be destroyed in the next 80 years due to climate change, which may result in the creatures’ population declining, completely reversing these recent gains.
The organization praised the measures implemented by the Chinese government to conserve this species, naming them a “positive step” that “must be strongly supported”. Invasive species, such as pigs, goats, rats, slugs, and non-native plants have imperiled Hawaii’s flora, and the IUCN Species Survival Commission Hawaiian Plant Specialist Group anticipates the remaining species to be assessed will also be highly threatened. The species – which is hunted for their soft and warm wool – saw its population decline from around 1 million in the 1980s to about 100,000 to 150,000 today.
“China did something about it”. “We all did it”, he added, noting how Britain and the United States had been huge destroyers of species during their period of industrialisation and rapid economic growth.
The once widespread and abundant Plains Zebra has moved from Least Concern to Near Threatened. A trio of antelope species found in Africa are also now near threatened for the same reason.
The World Wide Fund for Nature said the survey pointed to a 17 per cent rise in the Giant Panda population in the decade to 2014.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature upgraded the black-and-white bear’s status to vulnerable after it had been listed as endangered for more than 25 years.
Another success story due to conservation action is the Tibetan Antelope, which has moved from “endangered” to “near threatened”.
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IUCN experts noted that such programmes involved considerable funding and effort, underscoring the need for the world to put more financing into conservation.
