The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) released its threatened species list Monday in time for the World Parks Congress held once every 10 years by the conservation body.
As the IUCN called for improved care for protected areas, it revealed its list of threatened species around the world, identifying 22,413 species under threat. To come up with the list, the conservation body assessed 76,199 species.
"Each update of the IUCN 'red list' makes us realize that our planet is constantly losing its incredible diversity of life, largely due to our destructive actions to satisfy our growing appetite for resources," said Julia Marton-Lefevre, IUCN director-general.
However, scientific evidence exists showing that protected areas are key components towards reversing danger to species.
Now part of the "vulnerable" group, the Pacific Bluefin tuna saw a decline in number due to the high demand for the fish in sashimi and sushi markets in Asia. Since a lot of the fish that were being caught were young, they haven't had the chance to reproduce yet so the Bluefin tuna population has experienced a drop by up to 33 percent in the last 22 years. To help mitigate concerns over the number of Pacific Bluefin tuna, the IUCN called on fisheries to come up with management and conservation plans to be implemented in the Central Pacific and Western Oceans.
Others on the vulnerable list include the Chinese Cobra which has seen a 50 percent cut in its population in the past 20 years, and the Charopa lafargei, a Malaysian snail named after a French construction company that has agreed to join in the effort to protect the snail's habitat.
For critically endangered species, the list includes the Chinese pufferfish which has dropped in number by as much as 99 percent over the last 40 years because of over-exploitation, and the American eel, which had to deal with pollution, parasites, climate change, commercial harvesting, and habitat loss.
Two species, the St. Helena Giant Earwig and the Malaysian mollusc plectostoma sciaphilum, have been declared extinct because of the destruction of their habitats.
Hope springs in the Ranita Dorada Reserve in Colombia though as two amphibians, both from the poison dart frog family, were moved to simply "vulnerable" status, an improvement brought about by conservation efforts.
The World Parks Congress will close on Nov. 19 after outlining a worldwide agenda to be implemented in the next 10 years for protected areas. It comes just a month after members of the United Nations Convention of Biological Diversity gathered in South Korea, creating a roadmap with the end goal of halting the extinction of species by 2020.
