TRANSCRIPT
A fluffy native mouse is among the Australian animals added to the international red list of threatened species, with conservationists warning of an escalating global extinction crisis.
There are 742 endangered Australian plants and animals on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of threatened species, which grew by six species in the past year.
Jess Abrahams is the national nature campaigner with the Australian Conservation Foundation.
"The international Red List is a concise catalogue of threatened and endangered species across the globe. And just yesterday, a number of Australian species were added to the endangered list, including a very cute and fluffy native mouse , known as the heath mouse, which is found in western Victoria and on the border of South Australia and further west in Western Australia. And very sadly, the Heath mouse, which previously was not even considered threatened on the Red List, has jumped all the way to endangered."
Mr Abrahams says there are hundreds of species on Australia's red list of endangered plants and animals.
"On the Australian list, there's more than 2,200 endangered plants, animals and ecosystems, or threatened plants, animals and ecosystems. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature also keeps its own list, not just of Australian but of all threatened plants and animals across the world. And the IECM has counted 742 endangered species in Australia, and this includes well known species like the Koala and the Greater Glider and the Lead Betas possum, but increasingly lesser known but equally cute and important species like the Heath mouse, but others that were added to the lift yesterday include the Curlew Sandpiper."
Mr Abrahams blames the increase in species heading towards extinction on several factors including deforestation, agriculture, climate change, beef farming, increasingly severe fire regimes, and invasive species.
He also says Australia's outdated conservation laws are failing.
"Australia has a system of national environment laws that have been in place for nearly 25 years, and over that period, more than 7 million hectares of habitat for some of our most threatening endangered species have literally been destroyed. What an abject failure these laws have been. Our list of threatened species have literally grown by hundreds in the time that these laws have been in place. And these laws were meant to prevent extinction."
Meanwhile, two reports released Monday at a UN biodiversity summit in Colombia reveal limited progress in global biodiversity protection, with some species still in steep decline.
The UN Environment Programme reviewed efforts since 2020, when 196 countries committed to protecting 30 per cent of the planet by 2030.
The current summit in Cali, Colombia, follows the 2022 Montreal accord, which set out 23 measures to halt and reverse biodiversity loss.
Currently, 17.6 per cent of land and inland waters and 8.4 per cent of ocean and coastal areas are under protection.
The reports found that while some progress is noted, expansion efforts must speed up to meet this target in the next six years.
This comes as the International Union for Conservation of Nature releases its first Global Tree Assessment.
Thousands of scientists from all over the world have contributed to the report.
According to Craig Hilton-Taylor, IUCN's Head of Red List Unit, the results are worrying.
"We have assessed the status of the majority of the world's tree species, so that's about 47,000 species, and of those, 1 in 3 or 38 per cent of them are threatened with extinction. ... That is a real concern because trees are really a vital component of the world's biodiversity, and much of the world's biodiversity, including people, are entirely dependent on trees for their livelihoods, for their well-being, for food, for shelter. Trees play an essential role in terms of the carbon cycle, water cycles, nitrogen cycle."
Mr Hilton-Taylor says it's extremely urgent to act on these findings.
"Unless we start acting now, we will not stop these declines in time and those species will go extinct. We may even lose these species despite all our efforts. But in most cases we know what to do. This assessment shows us where the actions are needed most."
Grethel Aguilar, Director General of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), says there is still time to reverse the decline.
"It is not too late to put a halt to the destruction of nature and protected and conserved areas play a crucial role in this goal. Protected areas are key to safeguarding, not just tree species, but also the huge number of mammals, birds, insects, and other species."
