Drought in Kenya is killing these rare zebras and other animals 1:24
(CNN) --
The effects of human activity, from climate change to pollution, are "devastating" marine life, with nearly a tenth of underwater plants and animals assessed so far under threat of extinction, this report showed. Friday the most recent Red List of Threatened Species.
The release of the report coincides with a UN nature summit in Montreal, where Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged countries to end an "orgy of destruction" and approve an agreement to halt and reverse the loss of habitats.
They investigate possible poaching of endangered tortoises in the Galapagos
More than 1,550 of the 17,903 marine plants and animals assessed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) are at risk of extinction, according to the latest list, which acts as a barometer of biodiversity and is published several times a year.
"It shows that we are having a pretty devastating impact on marine species," said Craig Hilton-Taylor, head of the IUCN Red List.
"Underwater, you can't really see what's going on. So assessing the status of species gives us a real indicator of what's really going on there, and it's not good news."
A dugong, also known as a sea cow, swims at the Toba Aquarium in Toba, Japan, on September 5, 2012. (Credit: Linda Lombardi/AP/FILE)
According to Hilton-Taylor, the proportion of marine species threatened with extinction is likely to be much higher than current data shows, as those analyzed so far have tended to be widespread fish species, not currently threatened.
According to the IUCN, populations of dugongs, a plump, gray-colored herbivorous mammal commonly known as a sea cow, have dwindled to fewer than 250 adults in East Africa and fewer than 900 in the French territory of New Caledonia.
Among the threats they face are the loss of their main source of food, seagrass beds, due to oil and gas exploration and production in the case of Mozambique, and pollution from nickel mining in the Pacific.
700 endangered seals found dead off Russia's Caspian coast
The latest list reviews abalone species for the first time, a type of mollusk sold as luxury shellfish, finding that around 44% of them face extinction.
Increasingly severe and frequent marine heat waves have caused mass mortality, fueling disease and wiping out their food sources, the IUCN says.
In South Africa, poaching has "devastated" some abalone populations, while pollution from agriculture and industrial runoff has "eliminated" other abalones in part of the Arabian Peninsula," the IUCN said in a press release. .
A butterfly fish swims among pillar corals in the Jardines de la Reina Marine Reserve, Cuba.
(Credit: VW Pics/Universal Images Group Editorial/Getty Images/FILE)
Pillar coral, a Caribbean species resembling upright stalactites, dropped two categories, from "vulnerable" to "critically endangered."
Its population has been reduced by more than 80% in much of its range since 1990 due to bleaching and disease.
And the pillar coral is just one of many in danger;
In the Atlantic Ocean, nearly half of all corals are threatened with extinction due to climate change and other factors.
"The dire plight of these species should shock us and commit us to urgent action," said Amanda Vincent, chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission's Committee on Marine Conservation.
The world's wildlife populations plummeted an average of 69% between 1970 and 2018, a dangerous decline stemming from climate change and other human activities, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) warned in a report in October.
AnimalsExtinction