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The International Union for Conservation of Nature warns that climate change, habitat loss and overfishing are destroying marine life around the world.
Nearly two-fifths of sharks are threatened with extinction due to overfishing. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) issued a warning in the update of the Wildlife Red List, which also included the Komodo dragon in Indonesia (the world’s largest lizard). ) Is listed as “endangered”.
Overall, as the destructive impact of human activities on the natural world continues to deepen, approximately 28% of the 138,000 species assessed by the Global Conservation Agency for its survival watch list are now at risk of disappearing in the wild forever.
The World Conservation Union reported on Saturday that habitat loss, overexploitation, and illegal trade have been hitting global wildlife populations for decades, and climate change is now also acting as a direct threat.
But the newly updated Red List of Threatened Species also emphasizes the potential for recovery. After ten years of efforts to curb overexploitation, four commercially caught tuna species have recovered from the landslide.
The recovery of Atlantic bluefin tuna is the most alarming. It has jumped from the three categories of “endangered” to the “least concern” safe zone. This species is the backbone of high-end sushi in Japan, and the last evaluation was in 2011.
Southern bluefin tuna has also been upgraded from “critically endangered” to “endangered”, while albacore and yellowfin tuna are listed as “least concern”.
Craig Hilton-Taylor, head of the IUCN Red List Division, called it “good news” and told Al Jazeera that the “significant recovery” was due to continued efforts to fish quotas over the past two decades.
“This shows that conservation is indeed effective and can benefit species,” he said in Marseille, France, where the IUCN conference was held.
Fishing quotas helped several tuna species [File: Pau Barrena/AFP]A key message of this event is that the existential threat posed by species disappearance and ecosystem destruction is no less than global warming.
At the same time, climate change itself casts a deeper shadow on the future of many species than ever before, especially the endemic plants and animals that live uniquely on small islands or in certain biodiversity hotspots.
Komodo dragons are only found in the Komodo National Park, which is on the World Heritage List, and neighboring Flores.
The World Conservation Union stated that the species is “increasingly threatened by the effects of climate change” and pointed out that in the next 45 years, sea level is expected to shrink its small habitat by at least 30%.
Outside the protected area, with the expansion of human footprints, the terrible retrogression is rapidly losing ground.
“Partly due to climate change, the idea that these prehistoric animals are one step closer to extinction is frightening,” said Andrew Terry, director of conservation at the Zoological Society of London.
He added that their decline was “the clarion call for putting nature at the center of all decision-making” in the austerity UN climate negotiations in Glasgow.
At the same time, the most comprehensive survey of sharks and rays revealed that of the 1,200 species assessed, 37% are now classified as directly endangered, falling into one of three categories: “vulnerable”, “endangered” or “Critically Endangered”.
Simon Fraser University professor Nicholas Dulvy (Nicholas Dulvy), the lead author of a study published on Monday in support of the Red List assessment, said this is a third increase from the number of species at risk seven years ago.
He told AFP: “The protection status of the entire group continues to deteriorate, and the overall extinction risk is rising at an alarming rate.”
Five species of sawfish — whose jagged snouts are entangled in discarded fishing gear — and the iconic mako shark are among the most threatened species.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations reports that about 800,000 tons of sharks are caught intentionally or unintentionally each year, but research shows that the true number is two to four times higher.
Hilton Taylor told Al Jazeera that “more effort is needed to stop and limit shark catchers around the world.”
“In addition, we need to pay attention to the market, who is consuming shark products, and how we can change society’s attitudes toward shark product consumption,” he said.
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