1 in 4 mammals are at risk of extinction- IUCN warns

27th November 2011 – The good news: conservation works. The flipside: wildlife is so fragile that some of it may be lost forever.

This, according to the latest updated Red List released this month by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The Red List, with more than 61,900 species reviewed, is the world’s definitive watchlist of species. It is a rich compendium of information on the threats to the species, their ecological requirements, where they live and information on conservation actions that can be used to reduce or prevent extinctions.

According to the Red List, despite conservation programs, one out of four mammals are at risk of extinction.

For example, the reassessments of several rhinoceros species show that the Western Black Rhino in western Africa is extinct. The Northern White Rhino in central Africa is now on the brink of extinction and has been listed as possibly extinct in the wild.

The Javan Rhino is also making its last stand and is probably extinct, following the poaching of what is thought to be the last in Vietnam in 2010.

Although this is not the end of the Javan Rhino, it does reduce the species to a single, tiny and declining population on Java, Indonesia.

The main threats: lack of political support and will power for conservation efforts in many rhino habitats, international organized crime groups targeting rhinos and increasing illegal demand for rhino horns and commercial poaching.

"In the case of both the Western Black Rhino and the Northern White Rhino the situation could have had very different results if the suggested conservation measures had been implemented," says Simon Stuart, Chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission. "These measures must be strengthened now, specifically managing habitats in order to improve breeding performance, preventing other rhinos from fading into extinction."