Animal species are at imminent risk of extinction

Animal species across terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems are declining toward extinction. The IUCN Red List provides global extinction-risk assessments, while the IPBES Global Assessment identifies direct drivers including land and sea use change, direct exploitation, climate change, pollution and invasive alien species.

This issue concerns animal species classified at very high extinction risk or already extinct in the wild. The Phoenix Species Project provides a current portfolio of 91 animal examples for which recovery work is planned or underway. Its profiles illustrate how several pressures often act on the same species and how very small remaining populations can make recovery harder.

The desired state is that threatened animal populations recover to viable, self-sustaining levels in secure ecosystems. Without effective recovery, extinctions permanently remove species and their ecological functions.