Mass extinctions

Research has found that habitat destruction and, to a lesser extent, over-hunting are putting life on earth "under a serious threat," according to a new report issued Thursday by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

The analysis of the Red List of Threatened Species, conducted every four years, comes ahead of an international deadline next year for governments to determine how successful they have been in reducing biodiversity loss.

"Considering that only 2.7 percent of the 1.8 million described species have been analyzed, this number is a gross underestimate, but it does provide a useful snapshot of what is happening to all forms of life on earth," the IUCN said in a statement.

Nations fail to meet biodiversity goals

At least 16,928 species are threatened with extinction, the IUCN said, calling the number "a gross underestimate" that only provides a "snapshot" of the declining situation. Of the 44,838 species on the list, 869 are considered to be extinct or extinct in the wild. Another 290 species are listed as critically endangered and possibly extinct.

The goal set by UN parties under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to reduce biodiversity loss by 2010 "clearly will not be met," Jean-Christophe Vie, deputy head of the IUCN's species program, told the AFP news agency.

"Economies are utterly dependent on species diversity," he said. "We need them all, in large numbers. We quite literally cannot afford to lose them."

More than one in eight birds is threatened with extinction, with those in Brazil, Indonesia and on oceanic islands most at risk. Nearly a quarter of all mammals, especially hunted species in Asia, face a similar threat.

Nearly one third of amphibians are at risk of being wiped out through habitat loss, fungal infection and other risks.

Nature cannot be rebuilt

While habitat destruction was the main culprit endangering species, Vie said overuse of wildlife, including overfishing and over-hunting, was also putting animals at risk.

"People now live in cities and don't realize how much they require from nature for survival," said Vie, adding that "in the end the people who change things are the consumers."

Vie said it was up to governments to face the biodiversity crisis with the same vigor as they have the economic crisis.

"Governments should put as much effort, if not more, into saving nature as they do into addressing the economic and financial sectors," he said. "You can lose a core industry but you can rebuild one. In nature, if you lose it, you lose it, and you're losing a lot of capital that cannot be replaced."

sms/dpa/AFP/Reuters/AP

Editor: Kate Bowen