The Hindu Business Line : Red alert for flora & fauna

THE World Conservation Union has released an updated version of its `Red List' of the most threatened species on earth. Of the 12,259 endangered species that are on the list, some 482 are from India, including 19 critically endangered species of plants and animals.

Some 2,000 new entries have made it to the list since last year. Countries with the highest number of birds and mammals known to be threatened include India, Indonesia. Brazil, China and Peru, while Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brazil and Ecuador, are among the regions with an increase in the number of plants facing extinction.

The list reveals that 762 species of plants and animals are now considered extinct, while another 58 species exist only in protection programmes. An important point made in this year's list is that invasive species wreak havoc on native island plants. Invasive plants have, for instance, caused the extinction of four species of plants found only on the Ascension Islands in the South Atlantic. Similarly, Hawaii's native plants are under threat from invasive species and also from other habitat destroyers such as grazing animals, reports the list. In fact, of about 125 plant species found only in Hawaii and added to the 2003 Red List, some 85 are threatened.

The critically endangered species segment of the list includes plant and animal species that face the gravest threat of extinction. This year, the `critically endangered' list includes species such as the variegated spider monkey, Galapagos snails and the Mekong giant catfish — all of which have moved up from the lower `endangered' category.

Indian animal and plant species that are critically endangered include animal species such as the Namdapha Flying Squirrel and the Wroughton's free-tailed Bat, and plants such as the Syzygium Travancorium found only in a few sacred groves in Kerala.

This year's Red List has increased its coverage of plant species facing the threat of extinction. Seaweed and lichen, two previously uncovered species, have made it to the Red List for the first time this year.

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