The threat of extinction is getting worse for animals that travel

The UN Convention on Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) explains why some species are at risk of extinction

Migrating animals help other species, including people, along their journeys. They might play a role in pollinating plants, spreading seeds, or getting rid of pests, for instance. Others even help us fight climate change by sequestering planet-heating carbon.

The report also says there needs to be more work to identify which migratory species are threatened and which places need to be protected to safeguard them. More than 350 species still aren’t on the list of species needing international protections. It also highlights 10,000 “key biodiversity areas” that migratory species rely on — more than half of which lack protective designations for conservation.

“These are magnificent species that take unbelievable journeys, in some cases, that are economically beneficial [for humans], as well as the stuff of poetry and song and cultural significance,” said Amy Fraenkel, executive secretary of the UN Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals.

In some cases, they are. Wildlife crossings are helping animals traverse over roads and fences. Regulations are helping prevent poaching and overconsumption of some threatened fish and mammals. Habitat protections give species room to grow and prosper.

For many of those reasons — and because they’re so cool, just look at the photos below — 1,189 species have been officially recognized as needing international protection under the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS). According to a new report from the UN Environment Programme World Conservancy, 44 percent of the species are seeing their populations decline. The fish faring worse than others is one of the factors that puts it at risk of extinction.

Many species migrate with the change of seasons. Climate change is altering the seasons, shortening summers, and changing the timing of spring and fall. Scientists have documented animals, like birds in North America, adjusting the timing of their migrations to match those shifts. Not all are keeping pace with the rate of change, leading to what scientists call phenological asynchrony.

The UNICEF Red List of Threatened Species: Uzbekistan, the vulture, and the silky shark

World leaders from the 133 countries that have signed on to the Convention for Migratory Species are meeting this week in Uzbekistan to chart a path forward.

“Given the precarious situation of many of these animals, we cannot afford to delay, and must work together to make the recommendations a reality,” Inger Andersen, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme, said in a press release.

Most fish species on the list are in danger of extinction. There is a warm group of tropical waters around the globe that include the silky shark. It’s one of the most-caught species of shark in the world — either finding itself tangled in fishing lines or hunted for its meat and fins.

The International Union for the Protection of Nature and Natural Resources maintains a notorious Red List of threatened species, which has seen 70CMS species move closer to extinction since 1988.

The Egyptian vulture is one of the animals that has been declared endangered. The birds have traditionally been an indicator of good health and a symbol of spring around the Mediterranean. Urban development and agriculture is losing ground fast in Europe, Africa and Asia.

The numbers have been decreasing annually in India since 1999. Drugs given to livestock and ultimately eaten by the scavengers could be responsible for their deaths.

The problem of climate change is getting worse for migratory animals: A study of green sea turtles in the Northern Hemisphere by use of street lights and motion sensors

Climate change is making it harder for sea turtles to migrate. They are losing beaches to sea level rise and erosion and people put up sea walls to try to protect themselves from those dangers, and that can affect turtle breeding areas.

Hotter temperatures are even affecting the ratio of females to males among green sea turtles, since the temperature of the sand influences the sex of a hatchling. There are more females lately if the sand is warmer. A study of one population of green turtles found that 99 percent were females.

These problems are not out of reach. Dimmable and motion sensor-activated streetlights and warmer LED lights can limit the effects of light pollution on wildlife. Clean energy gets rid of pollution.

Source: The threat of extinction is getting worse for migratory animals

Saiga, a rare win, is back: How the whales of the Antarctica recover from whaling revisit the Earth and how to combat climate change

The Saiga antelope is back from near extinction, according to the report. This prehistoric species survived the ice age, outliving the wooly mammoth. The number of individuals in a country went down to less than 50,000 after diseases decimated their herds. Efforts to restore habitats and stop killings of animals allowed for their population to recover to 1.3 million. The Saiga is a rare win, but it is no longer considered critically endangered.

The whale has recovered from previous accidents. Their blubber — in the form of whale oil — lit lamps and candles during the heyday of whaling in the 1700s and 1800s. Since protections were put in place, and as people found other sources of fuel, their numbers have grown back to 93 percent of what their population was pre-whaling in the western South Atlantic. It is now considered a “species of least concern” by the IUCN.

In their recovery whales help slow global warming. Humpbacks, together with 11 other species of whales, collectively store 2 million metric tons of carbon in their enormous bodies, a 2022 study estimated. Even so, while that might be equivalent to preventing the annual emissions from five gas power plants, people could prevent far more pollution and environmental damage by switching to clean energy. Tackling climate change was another one of the key recommendations the report makes.