An update from Birdlife about IUCN RED LIST OF ENDANGERED SPECIES
In December:
Asia’s big forest birds bear the brunt of hunting and habitat loss, while the heat is on for species on the front line of climate chaos. Meanwhile, rousing recoveries show us the way forward in this year’s Red List update.
Now : BirdLife has released its yearly update to birds on the IUCN Red List of threatened species: the result of months of hard work from our science team as they collated the latest research into up-to-date assessments of species’ extinction risks.
Every year, species are shuttled up and down the scale, with some being ‘uplisted’ to higher threat categories – a cause for concern – and others successfully ‘downlisted’ to lower threat categories. Knowing where a species stands on the road to extinction can help us to focus our action where it is most needed – or, conversely, to learn which conservation measures are working well.
Yellow-naped Amazon: Endangered > Critically Endangered
This beautiful parrot, native to the Pacific coast of southern Mexico and Central America, was uplisted from Endangered to Critically Endangered this year. Recently, population declines have been accelerating due to habitat destruction and excessive trapping for the pet trade. The species is prized for its ability to mimic speech, and chicks are often stolen straight out of the nest.
Maccoa Duck: Vulnerable > Endangered
Found across Eastern and Southern Africa, this glossy diving duck was uplisted from Vulnerable to Endangered this year. Because the species feeds on invertebrates at the bottom of rivers and lakes, it is particularly susceptible to water pollution, which builds up in the food chain, reaching toxic levels. Other threats include entanglement in fishing nets and drainage of wetlands for agriculture.
Armenian Gull: Near Threatened > Least Concern
This large seabird nests every year beside mountain lakes in Georgia, Armenia, Turkey and western Iran, and in 2018 the first breeding colonies were found in Azerbaijan. For many years it suffered a steady decline driven by water extraction, pollution, egg collection and disturbance at these vital breeding grounds. Fortunately, its population has more than doubled between 2007 and 2018 thanks to pollution control and the protection of water bodies. In Armenia, the species started recovering when Lake Arpi National Park was created to protect the country’s largest colony, and the Government started raising the water level of Lake Sevan – another major breeding ground.
Full article is here
