Leading Conservationists Warn That Africa’s Species are Facing a Quickening Extinction

Leading conservationists have warned here that Africa’s species are speedily facing extinction, with a quarter of the world’s mammals at risk of extinction. The global analysis of threatened species by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) established here Tuesday that: “At least 1,141 of the 5,487 mammals on earth are under threat, largely as a result of hunting and the destruction of their habitat by humans”.

The latest IUCN Red List of Endangered Species showed 188 species are critically endangered - including the Iberian lynx which has seen its numbers drop.

Disease and illegal shooting are also problems for the cat species and its habitat has become severely fragmented by human development and new tree plantations, the report says.

The IUCN breakdown of status of the highly endangered and vulnerable animals shows that the grey-faced sengi is a newly discovered species of elephant shrew from Tanzania.

The African elephant occurs in 37 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and has been hunted for ivory and meat. Across the continent, its population is thought to have fallen by 25% between 1979 and 2007, slightly less than the 30% threshold required to list it as vulnerable to extinction.

However, successful conservation efforts have seen populations increase in southern and eastern Africa.

There is evidence that more than half of all mammal species are experiencing declines in populations, according to the new study.

And conservationists warned the overall proportion of threatened mammals could in fact be as high as a third, because there is not enough information on around 836 species to tell if they are in danger of extinction.

The plight of mammals prompted IUCN director general Julia Marton-Lefevre to call for conservation action “to ensure our enduring legacy is not to wipe out many of our closest relatives”.

One of the major impacts on mammals is destruction of their habitat, which affects two fifths of land species, according to the research published at the IUCN’s world conservation congress and in the journal Science.

Other threats include hunting for food, medicine and materials, while marine mammals are most at risk of being caught by mistake by fishing boats, colliding with vessels and from pollution.

Jan Schipper, of Conservation International and team leader of the researchers, also said climate change would also have an impact on some species.

But there is good news for some mammals, with around 5% showing signs of recovery - suggesting conservation efforts can make a difference, the study says.

Source African Press Agency

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