Each year, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) publishes a red list of endangered animal and plant species which includes those threatened with extinction.
For the moment, data concerning 150,000 plant and animal species, of which approximately 41,000 are threatened with extinction, or 28% of the total.
This represents 41% of amphibians, 38% of sharks and rays or 27% of mammals.
However, in addition to this IUCN study, more than half of the species whose conservation status cannot be assessed, due to a lack of data, are likely to be threatened with extinction, according to a study published Thursday in the scientific journal Communications Biology.
For thousands of other species, the IUCN lacks data to assess their conservation status, which can range from “least concern” to “critically endangered” or even “extinct”.
Undervalued species
Researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology have used a machine learning technique, via an algorithm, to derive estimates for 7,699 species for which data are missing.
It shows that 4,336 of them, or more than half, would probably be threatened with extinction, including 85% of the amphibians on this additional list and 61% of the mammals.
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“We see that across most land and coastal areas around the world, the rate of extinction could be higher by including species for which we lack data,” worries the lead author. study, Jan Borgelt.
This analysis also highlights certain regions where the risk is greater, such as Madagascar, rich in unique fauna, or southern India.
It could help the IUCN to develop a strategy concerning undervalued species, hopes Jan Borgelt.
A carnage in 1,500 years
Moreover, in the world between 150,000 and 260,000 animal and plant species are already extinct.
According to the researchers, between 7.5 and 13% of animal and plant species would have disappeared in the space of 1,500 years.
In this context, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature IUCN had published a list of threatened species.
In 2020, the organization had added about fifteen species of endemic fish to Lake Lanao in the Philippines.
Also according to the IUCN, the red list should be extended if non-vertebrates were to be taken into account.
Read alsoA million animals and plants threatened with extinction: 5 actions to save them
A UN report published in 2019 warned that a million species are threatened with extinction in the medium and long term, due to habitat loss, climate change, invasive invasive species or even their overuse.
