However, the IUCN’s latest Red List of Threatened Species, released on Friday, also offers a glimmer of hope. <\/p>\n
Green sea turtles have made a substantial recovery, a testament to decades of dedicated conservation efforts.<\/p>\n
Rima Jabado, deputy chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission, emphasised that while many animals face increasing risks of disappearing, the updated list demonstrates how species can be brought back from the brink, namely the Green Turtle. <\/a><\/p>\n She said: “Hope and concern go hand in hand in this work. The same persistence that brought back the green sea turtle can be mirrored in small, everyday actions \u2014 supporting sustainable choices, backing conservation initiatives, and urging leaders to follow through on their environmental promises.”<\/p>\n The annual list, compiled by teams of scientists assessing global data, is an “enormous and important” scientific undertaking, according to Andrew Farnsworth, a visiting scientist at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery time one is done and every time there\u2019s revision, there\u2019s more information, and there\u2019s more ability to answer questions\u201d on species, some of which are still largely a mystery to researchers, Farnsworth said.<\/p>\n Sea ice loss<\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n The three species highlighted in the latest IUCN report \u2014 harp, hooded and bearded seals \u2014 have been moved up to a designation of greater concern in the latest update (The Day Publishing Company)<\/p>\n Because all the marine mammals native to the Arctic<\/a> \u2014 seals, whales and polar bears \u2014 rely on the habitat provided by sea ice, they’re all at risk as it diminishes because of human-caused climate change, said Kit Kovacs, co-chair of IUCN\u2019s Species Survival Commission Pinniped Specialist Group, which focuses on seals.<\/p>\n The three species highlighted in the latest IUCN report \u2014 harp, hooded and bearded seals \u2014 have been moved up to a designation of greater concern in the latest update, indicating they are increasingly threatened by extinction, Kovacs said.<\/p>\n The same melting of glaciers and sea ice destroying seal habitats also \u201cgenerally will bring escalation in extreme weather events, which are already impacting people around the globe,\u201d wrote Kovacs.<\/p>\n \u201cActing to help seals is acting to help humanity when it comes to climate change,\u201d Kovacs said.<\/p>\n Global bird decline<\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n The same melting of glaciers and sea ice destroying seal habitats also \u2018generally will bring escalation in extreme weather events, which are already impacting people around the globe\u2019 (Associated Press\/Joel Page)<\/p>\n The update also highlighted Madagascar<\/a>, West Africa<\/a> and Central America<\/a>, where Schlegel\u2019s asity, the black-casqued hornbill and the tail-bobbing northern nightingale-wren were all moved to near-threatened status. Those are three specific birds in trouble, but numbers are dropping for around three-fifths of birds globally.<\/p>\n Deforestation<\/a> of tropical forests is one of a \u201cdepressing litany of threats\u201d to birds, a list that includes agricultural expansion and intensification, competition from invasive species and climate change, said Stuart Butchart, chief scientist at BirdLife International<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fact that 61 per cent of the world\u2019s birds are declining is an alarm bell that we can\u2019t afford to ignore,\u201d Butchart said.<\/p>\n The annual UN climate summit will be held in November in Belem, Brazil<\/a>, with much attention on the Amazon<\/a> and the value of tropical forests to humans and animals. But Farnsworth, of Cornell, said he was \u201cnot so confident\u201d that world\u2019s leaders would take decisive action to protect imperiled bird species. <\/p>\n \u201cI would like to think things like birds are nonpartisan, and you can find common ground,\u201d he said. “But it’s not easy.\u201d<\/p>\n Green sea turtles<\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n Researchers from the Aruana Project measure a green sea turtle after capturing it temporarily at a feeding site on Itaipu Beach in Niteroi, Brazil (Associated Press\/Silvia Izquierdo)<\/p>\n One success story is the rebound of green sea turtles in many parts of the world’s oceans. Experts<\/a> see that as a bright spot because it shows how effective human interventions, like legal protections and conservation programs, can be.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Climate_Threatened_Species_06830.jpg\")
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