Supporting quotes:
“We are proud to have supported almost 30% of the 6,218 assessments in this update, including assessments of underrepresented species such as trees, fungi and invertebrates,” said Masako Yamato, General Manager, Environmental Affairs Division of Toyota Motor Corporation. “This contributes to the growing diversity of species on the IUCN Red List, making it an increasingly powerful tool for guiding conservation in this important year for the Post 2020 Biodiversity Framework.”
"Just like us, elephants rely on trees and the ecosystem services they provide in order to survive. BGCI's Global Tree Assessment (GTA) — the first global conservation assessment of all of the world's known tree species, to be released later this year — will provide a roadmap for conserving the tree species and ecosystems upon which elephants, and species like them, depend," said Dr Malin Rivers, Head of Conservation Prioritisation, Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI). “Regular re-assessment of a species' status on the Red List helps to highlight worrying trends like what the elephants of Africa are experiencing. The health of our planet depends on the health of elephants and the ecosystems they inhabit, which is why Global Wildlife Conservation supports the Elephant Crisis Fund to get funding to groups across Africa working to save, recover, and manage elephant populations," said Dr Barney Long, Global Wildlife Conservation's Senior Director of Species Conservation. "Few species evoke the sense of awe African elephants command. This latest assessment shows us that even the most charismatic species need our unwavering protection," said Sean T. O’Brien, President and CEO of Nature Serve. O’Brien continued, “The successful conservation efforts that have taken place thus far bring us hope, but only a coordinated effort to bring together data, policy, and local knowledge will help resolve the underlying issue at hand - the mass extinction of our planet’s precious biodiversity.” “This year sees the native Australian shrub Cangai Wattle (Acacia cangaiensis) enter the IUCN Red List as Endangered. As we saw on news headlines across the globe last year, the Australian bushfire season caused extreme damage, and ever since scientists have been hard at work evaluating the long-term impact the fires had on wildlife. Unfortunately, with restricted distribution, and increasing risk from wildfires and droughts, this Acacia, which grows in the Australian state New South Wales, is now at high risk of extinction. The good news is that we have banked the seeds of the Acacia at Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank for long-term safekeeping and these seeds can also be used for post-fire restoration if required,” said Jack Plummer, scientist in the Conservation Assessment team at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. “These two Red List assessments reflect the outcome of the IUCN SSC African Elephant Specialist Group taking a bold, collaborative, evidence based decision to assess the African elephant as two separate species for the first time and understanding the implications and consequences of this shift. The outcome are robust assessments that provide users with the options to focus conservation efforts appropriately for the Critically Endangered forest elephant and the Endangered savanna elephant. It will be essential for IUCN SSC to engage with African range states and other agencies in dealing with the implications of the assessments,” said Dr Jon Paul Rodríguez, Chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission. “The recent decision to list both African elephant species as Threatened (the African forest elephant as Critically Endangered and the African savanna elephant as Endangered) will help to strengthen international efforts to control poaching and provide guidance on the geographical trends in intensity of threats. It will also support those countries and regions that have implemented successful conservation efforts through local knowledge and initiatives, so that a plan for continent-wide recovery can be successful,” said Dr. Thomas E. Lacher, Jr., IUCN Red List Committee and Texas A&M University Red List Partner. “Conservation efforts to protect savannah elephants have seen many populations begin to recover, but sadly the same is not true for forest elephants, which remain under intense pressure from habitat loss and poaching. In the Dja Biosphere Reserve in Cameroon, for example, ZSL’s work with the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife (MINFOF) suggests a 70% drop in numbers since 1995, with as few as 220 animals remaining,” said Andrew Terry, Director of Conservation at the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), “Recovering these populations is vital for the forests but needs commitment across communities, companies and government working together to achieve success.” |
