Latest version of Red List released

Extinction crisis continues apace

The world's peak body for assessing the extinction risk that animals and plants face has released its latest update, and the news is alarming.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) this month published the 2009 version of its Red List of Threatened Species – the most comprehensive global inventory of plant and animal conservation status.

The results reveal that 21 percent of all known mammals, 30 percent of all known amphibians, and 12 percent of all known birds are under threat. Furthermore, 28 percent of reptiles, 37 percent of freshwater fishes, 70 percent of plants, and 35 percent of invertebrates assessed so far are also threatened.

The pattern is repeated in Australia, with a total of 749 animal species and 55 plant species listed as threatened.

‘This is a reminder of the perilous situation our Australian plants and animals are in' said Doug Humann, Bush Heritage CEO. ‘Increasing numbers of our native species face an uncertain future - it's quite on the cards that we will lose many of them forever.'

‘The good news is that the work Bush Heritage is doing, by establishing and managing reserves in strategic locations, is providing real protection for some of our threatened species.'

Bush Heritage reserves provide havens for such threatened species as the endangered swift parrot, the critically endangered redfin blue-eye, and the endangered Tasmanian devil.