Xinhua News Agency data map, Abalone
Xinhua News Agency, Montreal, Canada, December 9th. Dugong, abalone, columnar coral...The World Union for Conservation of Nature html updated on the 39th to add some marine species. According to the new list, nearly 10% of the marine species evaluated are at risk of extinction.
The World Union for Conservation of Nature announced in Montreal, Canada that on the same day that more than 1,550 of the 17,900 marine species evaluated are at risk of extinction. At least 41% of these threatened marine species suffer from climate change.
One of the focus is marine herbivorous mammal dugong , which is a "vulnerable" species worldwide, but dugongs living in the waters near East Africa and near New Caledonia in the South Pacific have been upgraded to "extremely dangerous" and "endangered" respectively. The latest research found that the number of adult dugongs in the waters near East Africa has dropped to less than 250, while the number of adult dugongs in the waters near New Caledonia is less than 900. Their main threats include: accidental injury by fishing boats, poaching, and their food, seaweed, and oil and gas exploration and development activities.
The World Union for Conservation of Nature also evaluated the survival status of abalone for the first time and found that 20 of the 54 types of abalone around the world are at risk of extinction. The main problems facing abalone are unsustainable harvesting and illegal fishing, which make the problem worse by climate change, disease and pollution. For example, ocean heat waves are becoming increasingly frequent and severe, which caused the death of 399% of the northern regions of Western Australia in 2011.
In addition, the number of columnar corals in Caribbean has dropped by more than 80% since 1990, and the threat level has jumped from "vulnerable" to "endangered" and has been directly raised to "extremely dangerous". In recent years, a highly contagious "stone coral tissue loss disease" has emerged, and the infection of large areas of columnar corals is the most urgent threat it faces.
Director-General of the World Union for Conservation of Nature Bruno Oberro said that human activities have created a "perfect storm" that destroys the survival of global marine life. He hopes that the United Nations Biodiversity Conference, which is being held here, will succeed, set the direction for natural recovery in the future, and help solve the two crises of climate change and biodiversity .
IUCN Red List is a relatively authoritative list of species extinction risk assessments. The latest red list includes more than 150,000 species, of which 42,000 species are under threat.
(Source: Xinhua News Agency)
