More creatures than previously thought heading for extinction, Belfast researchers find

There are currently more than 42,000 threatened species on the Red list of threatened species of the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The curlew (Numenius arquata) population of Ireland is in danger of extinction within the next decade. It is estimated there are only 105 pairs of the bird left in Ireland, down from around 5,000 in the 1980s. File picture: Andy Gibson

The global biodiversity crisis is even more serious than previously thought with half the creatures on the planet heading towards extinction, researchers from Queen’s University Belfast have found.

Their study, published in the journal Biological Reviews, found 48% of species declining towards extinction and only 3% showing signs of recovery. The researchers eschewed traditional methods to calculate biodiversity loss, instead looking directly at population trends and whether the species are declining, remain stable or are getting better over time. 

Catherine Finn, PhD student at Queen’s University Belfast and leading author, said: “Almost half of animals on Earth for which assessments are available are currently declining. To make matters worse, many of the animal species that are thought to be non-threatened from extinction, are in fact progressively declining.”

Senior lecturer in evolutionary biology and macroecology at Queen’s, Daniel Pincheira-Donoso, said the study method — they looked at 70,000 species — provides a clearer picture about the true extent of global erosion of biodiversity.

“Our work is a drastic alert about the current magnitude of this crisis that has already devastating impacts on the stability of nature as a whole, and on human health and wellbeing," he said.

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There are currently more than 42,000 threatened species on the Red list of threatened species of the International Union for Conservation of Nature. It is the world's biggest data inventory of vulnerable species conservation status.

The Queen's study found that 33% of species currently considered “safe” by the IUCN conservation categories are in fact declining towards risk of extinction.

At the UN's Cop15 global biodiversity summit last December in Canada, 196 countries and blocs agreed to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which includes the target to restore at least 30% of degraded ecosystems by 2030, while the European Commission also published a proposal for a new EU Nature Restoration Law last year.

Ireland's Citizens Assembly on Biodiversity's report last month called for "prompt, decisive and urgent action to address biodiversity loss and restoration" and said leadership must be provided in protecting Ireland’s biodiversity for future generations.