Calls 44 Thousand Species In The World Endangered According To The 2023 Report

Illustration of deer. (Unpslash/Wolfgang Hasselmann)

JAKARTA - The Red List of Endangered Species last year recorded more than 44,000 endangered species, 2,000 more species than the previous year's list, according to a report released by the International Union for Natural Conservation (IUCN) on the sidelines of the COP28 event, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The total number of animals that have been recorded has reached 157,000 species. This number is about 7,000 species more than last year's data, quoted from Euronews January 4.

The data show climate change exacerbating the biodiversity crisis on earth, making the environment more deadly to thousands of species and accelerating the drastic decline in the number of plants and animals on earth.

"Species around the world are under enormous pressure. So, wherever you look, the number of endangered species continues to rise," said Craig Hilton-Taylor, head of the IUCN's Red List unit.

Climate change worsened the condition of some 6,700 animal species that had previously been endangered, based on last year's data.

The salmon species and turtles are among the species facing population downturns as the earth warms up.

Green turtles in the South Pacific and East Pacific have greater risks due to climate change, for example. Fewer turtles hatch because the higher sea inundates the nest. Water warming can damage the supply of seagrass food.

While the Atlantic Salmon has not been threatened with extinction, its population has fallen by nearly a quarter from 2006 to 2020, according to the IUCN. Now considered nearly threatened.

These fish live in fewer places and face the dangers caused by human activities such as dams and water pollution. Climate change makes it difficult for them to get food and makes it easier for foreign species to compete, according to the group.

The report also said that more than 3,000 species of freshwater fish are now facing the risk of extinction, as a result of climate change raising sea levels, causing salt water to flow further into rivers.

Next, there are frogmen, amphibious and amphibious in the list, where about 41 percent of their species are under threat.

"They are restrained by the climate because higher temperatures, drought, amphibiousities cannot avoid danger and are directly affected by climate change," said Deputy Chairman of the IUCN Species Survival Commission Vivek Menon.

However, the report also brings good news. Two antip species managed to'return' from the brink of extinction.

For example, a sword-nosed deer, a light colored animal with a curved horn, was previously categorized as extinct in the wild, but is now 'improving' to become endangered.

Recent attempts to reintroduce the species in Chad have helped and now there are at least 140 adult species and twice as many young cows in a large nature reserve.

IUCN Director-General Greethel Aguilar said humans need to act to protect biodiversity. If conservation is done properly, then it will succeed. To combat the threat of climate change, he said fossil fuels should be eliminated in stages.

"Alam is here to help us, so let's help again," he said.