By Canadian Press

Extinction risk to wild species must be eliminated by 2050: Conservation group

Dec 9, 2022 | 3:03 PM

OTTAWA — The global organization that tracks threats to plants, animals and other organisms says a successful agreement to protect nature would be one that eliminates the threat of extinction for all species by the middle of this century.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature issued an update to its “Red List” of species that are at risk of extinction as United Nations nature talks continue in Montreal. 

The list includes more than 42,000 species at risk of extinction, an increase from 40,084 a year ago.

More than 190 countries are trying to hammer out a plan to halt and reverse an ongoing decline in the health of the planet’s ecosystems and wild species.

Jane Smart, the head of the conservation group’s centre for science, says the list is a good way to tell if there has been any genuine progress on that front.

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She says that her organization wants the risk of extinction for all species to plummet to zero by 2050, and that this would mean reducing the risk by 20 per cent by 2030. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 9, 2022.

The Canadian Press