{"id":402821,"date":"2023-12-14T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-14T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=402821"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"Endangered-species-list-grows-by-2-000-Climate-change-is-part-of-the-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/Endangered-species-list-grows-by-2-000-Climate-change-is-part-of-the-problem\/","title":{"rendered":"Endangered species list grows by 2,000. Climate change is part of the problem"},"content":{"rendered":"

Climate change is worsening the planet\u2019s biodiversity crises, making environments more deadly for thousands of species and accelerating the precipitous decline in the number of plants and animals on Earth, according to an international organization that tracks species health.<\/p>\n

Species of salmon and turtles are among those facing a decline as the planet warms.<\/p>\n

Atlantic salmon isn\u2019t yet threatened with extinction, but its population dropped by nearly a quarter from 2006 to 2020, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which tracks biodiversity around the globe, said on Monday. It\u2019s now considered near threatened. They live in fewer places and face human-created hazards like dams and water pollution. Climate change is making it harder for the fish to find food and easier for alien species to compete, according to the group. Although there are some signs of hope: their numbers ticked up in Maine this past year.<\/p>\n

The news was announced at the United Nations climate conference in the United Arab Emirates on Monday. Leaders of the IUCN updated their Red List of Threatened Species, a tracker of biodiversity around the globe. It was mainly bad news. The list includes information on 157,000 species, about 7,000 more than last year\u2019s update.<\/p>\n

The IUCN said just over 44,000 species are threatened with extinction. That\u2019s roughly 2,000 more than last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpecies around the world are under huge pressure. So no matter where you look, the numbers of threatened species are rising,\u201d said Craig Hilton-Taylor, head of the Red List unit at the IUCN.<\/p>\n

Climate change is worsening conditions for about 6,700 species threatened with extinction.<\/p>\n

The Central South Pacific and East Pacific green turtle is at greater risk because of climate change, for example. Fewer turtles hatch as higher seas inundate nests. Warming waters can harm its food supply of seagrasses.<\/p>\n

The update includes the first broad assessment of the health of freshwater fish species. One-quarter of species \u2014 just over 3,000 \u2014 face an extinction risk. As climate change raises sea levels, salt water is traveling further up rivers, for example. And these species already face tremendous threats from pollution and overfishing, the IUCN said.<\/p>\n

Frogs, salamanders and other amphibians are suffering the most. About 41% of these species are under threat.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are climate captives because of higher temperatures, drought \u2014 whatever happens amphibians cannot move out of harm\u2019s way and are directly impacted by climate change,\u201d said Vivek Menon, deputy chair of the IUCN\u2019s species survival commission.<\/p>\n

There was a bit of good news. Two antelope species are fairing better, although they still have a long way to go before their long-term survival is stabilized. For example, the scimitar-horned oryx, a light-colored animal with curved horns, had previously been categorized as extinct in the wild but is now endangered. It faced a lot of threats: poaching, drought and car accidents all played a role in largely eliminating the species by the turn of the century. But recent efforts to reintroduce the species in Chad have helped and there are now at least 140 adults and more than twice as many calves on a large nature reserve.<\/p>\n

IUCN\u2019s director general Grethel Aguilar said it\u2019s clear humans need to act to protect biodiversity and when conservation is done right, it works. To combat the threat posed by climate change, she said fossil fuels need to be phased out, a contentious focus of this year\u2019s COP28 negotiations.<\/p>\n

\u201cNature is here to help us, so let us help it back,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A captive frog, of the Telmatobius Culeus species, moves inside of a glass box at Huachipa Zoo, on the outskirts of Lima, Peru, Nov. 6, 2019.<\/p>\n

-Martin Mejia\/AP
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