Over 800 Wildlife Species Died Out and 17,000 on the Edge of Extinction

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, during the past five hundred years over 800 animal and plant species disappeared and almost 17,000 currently face extinction. By analyzing these huge numbers it may become obvious that the international community will not be able to achieve its 2010 goal of boosting the biodiversity and preserving a lot of different life forms on the planet. It is worth mentioning that in 2002 the majority of world governments made a commitment to take care of the endangered species and it seems like they failed.

The latest analysis carried out by IUCN is based on information unveiled in 2008 in the Red List of the union. According to Jean-Christophe Vie, the editor of the report about extinct and to be extinct species, the new analysis of the International Union for Conservation of Nature was released to carry on with the goal for 2010 and focus on the link between environmental and financial crises. \"We don\'t want to make a choice between nature and the economy; we just want to bring nature to the same level when you have to take a decision. Jobs are important but not jobs to the detriment of nature. We have done that too much and look where we have arrived,\" said Vie.



Figures in the new analysis show that 869 species died out since 1500 and today about 290 more species are considered extinct or seriously endangered. The report shows that 16,928 species face extinction, among them 30 percent are amphibians, 25 percent are mammals and one eighth are birds. In 2004 Red List had 784 extinctions, which means that over the past five years about 85 species died out. The report also mentions that the list is still not full, having just 2.7 percent out of 1.8 million species studied. Its authors wrote that the number of species that are threatened by extinction is \"a gross underestimate but it does provide a useful snapshot of what is happening to all forms of life on Earth.\" It is worth mentioning that one of the critically endangered species is the Amur tiger with a population of less than 35 individuals.



More Serious than Economic Crisis

Vie said that this problem is much more serious than the economic and bank crisis. He mentioned that one can go bankrupt and then rebuild a business or create a new one but in nature, once something is lost it cannot be brought back or replaced. The editor of the report says that the notion of biodiversity is considered to be secondary to economic stability by countries in North America and Europe, where there is little connection to natural products. He says that in less developed regions people are closely connected to biodiversity which has a direct link with human prosperity. According to Vie, in most of the world\'s nations the major problem is not related to finding a job, but to surviving everyday during the food crisis, finding food, which is African nations, for example is in short supply. He also said that \"in most places this comes from biodiversity, from nature, from fish and plants.\"

The main problem linked with land-based species, is that people destroy them through farming, logging and development. Currently climate change does not represent the number one threat, but things may change soon. The report says that 17,000 species of birds, amphibians and reef-building corals are very vulnerable to climate change; these include 30 percent of birds, 51 percent of corals and 41 percent of amphibians that at the moment do not face extinction.



The Amur Tiger

It is the largest cat in the world. The latest research showed that despite the fact that up to 500 tigers managed to survive in the wild, the effective population is calculated in terms of their genetic diversity. Amur tigers are considered to be the rarest species of tiger and at the beginning of the 20th century 9 subspecies of the Amur tiger and a population of 100,000 individuals worldwide was known. Since then the impact of humans on the environment led to the extinction of 3 subspecies including the Javan tiger, Bali tiger and Caspian tiger.



In addition, humans cut the number of tigers on the planet down to 3,000. For many years the Amur tiger, also known as the Siberian tiger, lived over a large territory of northern China, the Korean peninsula, as well as on the territory of the farthest south areas of far east Russia. With the human expansion throughout the 20th century the Amur tiger almost died out, with about 90 percent losing its habitat. During the 1940s between 20 and 30 Amur tigers remained in the wild. A recovery of the tiger began after a ban on hunting was established and specific conservation steps were made.