The natural world is in serious trouble and it needs our help as never before. We continue to lose the precious wildlife that enriches our lives.
Most (known of) animal species have been extinct on the territory of the United States of America, followed by French Polynesia, Mauritius, Australia and Mexico. St. Helena, New Zealand, Réunion, Seychelles, Sri Lanka and Cook Island complete the top 10.
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, (IUCN), ‘To date, many species groups including mammals, amphibians, birds, reef building corals and conifers have been comprehensively assessed. As well as assessing newly recognized species, the IUCN Red List also re-assesses the status of some existing species, sometimes with positive stories to tell. For example, good news such as the downlisting (i.e. improvement) of a number of species on the IUCN Red List categories scale, due to conservation efforts. The bad news, however, is that biodiversity is declining. Currently there are more than 105,700 species on The IUCN Red List, with more than 28,000 species threatened with extinction, including 40% of amphibians, 34% of conifers, 33% of reef building corals, 25% of mammals and 14% of birds.’
