UN Biodiversity Reports Warn of Declining Species as Conservation Efforts Struggle

Global efforts to protect the world's plants and animals have made slight progress and some species remain in serious decline, according to two reports released Monday at a major United Nations biodiversity summit in Colombia.  

A report from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) evaluated global progress since its biodiversity report in 2020. Two years ago, 196 countries signed a historic treaty to protect biodiversity on 30 per cent of the planet by 2030. 

The biodiversity summit underway in Cali, Colombia, is a follow-up to the 2022 accord in Montreal, which includes 23 measures to halt and reverse nature loss. One calls for putting 30 per cent of the planet and 30 per cent of degraded ecosystems under protection by 2030. 

The UNEP report found countries have made some headway on pledges, but that expansion of the global network must accelerate over the next six years to meet the goal. The report says 17.6 per cent of land and inland waters and 8.4 per cent of the ocean and coastal areas globally are within documented protected and conserved areas. 

“The increase in coverage since 2020, equivalent to more than twice the size of Colombia, is to be celebrated,” UNEP said in a news release. “But it is a rise of less than 0.5 percentage points in both realms.” 

An area of land roughly the size of Brazil and Australia combined and a sea area larger than the Indian Ocean need to be protected and conserved by 2030 to meet the global target, said UNEP.  

“It is ... equally important that these areas are effective and that they do not negatively impact the people who live in and around them, who are often their most valuable custodians," said UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen. “Today's landmark report shows some progress has been made in the past four years, but we are not moving nearly far or fast enough."  

The UNEP's report uses the latest official data reported by governments and other initiative stakeholders. 

“The 30 by 30' is an ambitious target, but one that is still within reach if the international community works together across borders, demographics and sectors,” said Grethel Aguilar, director general at The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).  

The IUCN reported Monday that 38 per cent of the world's trees are at risk of extinction.  

The Swiss-headquartered organisation says its Red List of Threatened Species now includes 166,061 species — 46,337 of them threatened with extinction.  

Trees now account for over one quarter of species on its endangered list, and the number of threatened trees is more than double the number of threatened birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians combined, the IUCN said. 

Tree species are at risk of extinction in 192 countries around the world, the organisation said. The highest proportion of threatened trees is found on islands since they are particularly at high risk due to deforestation for urban development and agriculture, as well as invasive species, pests and diseases.  

“This comprehensive assessment presents the first global picture of the conservation status of trees, which enables us to make better informed conservation decisions and take action to protect trees where it is urgently needed,” said Malin Rivers, Global Tree Assessment lead at Botanic Gardens Conservation International.  

Global loss of trees is a major threat to thousands of other plants, fungi and animals, according to the IUCN.  

The report also noted the conservation status of the Western European hedgehog has deteriorated and it's now listed as “near threatened,” with numbers reduced by an estimated 16 to 33 per cent over the past 10 years.  

The worst declines have been documented at up to 50 per cent in Bavaria, Germany, and Flanders, Belgium. The decline is driven by “increasing human pressures, particularly the degradation of rural habitats by agricultural intensification, roads and urban development,” the report said.