CABI Blogs: hand picked... and carefully sorted

IUCN releases list of 100 most threatened species – priceless or worthless?

In the beginning of this year, the Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) published the Red List of Threatened Species, which showed that the world’s rich diversity is disappearing at a frightening fast rate, with 1 in 4 mammals, 1 in 3 amphibians, 1 in 3 corals, and 1 in 8 birds being at risk of extinction. Now scientists from the International Species Survival Commission (SSC) of the IUCN have released a report listing the world’s 100 most threatened animals, plants and fungi. There is now fear that these species will be allowed to become extinct because none of them provide obvious benefits to us.

Record-breaking Arctic ice melt - causes and implications

Image credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

NASA satelite pictures and a BBC News item on the latest data from the Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI) showed that the Arctic sea ice has thawed to record levels this year. It is well known that the Arctic ice thaws annually during the summer months, when the temperature is above freezing, and forms again in the winter, but lately more ice is melting each year and the floating ice is at its smallest since monitoring began more than 30 years ago. What are the causes and implications?