Climate Change and Loss of Species: Our Greatest Challenges

Nature is declining globally at rates unprecedented and the rate of species extinctions is accelerating. Credit: UNBy Farhana Haque RahmanROME, Nov 19 2019 (IPS) Mottled and reddish, the Lake Oku puddle frog has made its tragic debut on the Red List, a rapidly expanding roll call of threatened species. It was once abundant in the Kilum-Ijim rainforest of Cameroon but has not been seen since 2010 and is now listed as critically endangered and possibly extinct. Researchers attribute its demise to a deadly fungal disease caused by the chytrid fungus. As noted by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the skin fungus has devastated amphibian populations globally and holds the distinction of being the world’s most invasive killer, responsible for the decline of at least 500 amphibian species, including 90 presumed extinctions. The IUCN’s Red List has expanded to cover more than 105,000 species of plants and animals, and its most recent update in July found that 27 percent of those assessed were at risk of extinction. No species on the list was deemed to have improved its status enough since 2018 to be placed in a lower threat category. Human exploitation is often responsible, as with the now endangered red-capped mangabey monkey hunted for bushmeat while its forest habitat in West Africa is destroyed for agriculture; or the East African pancake tortoise critically endangered because of the global pet trade. Thousands of tree species now make the list t...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Biodiversity Civil Society Climate Change Environment Featured Global Headlines Health Indigenous Rights Sustainability TerraViva United Nations Source Type: news