Arctic seals threatened by climate change, birds decline globally – IUCN Red List
The update was released today at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Abu Dhabi. The IUCN Red List now includes 172,620 species of which 48,646 are threatened with extinction.
“Today’s Red List update, launched at the IUCN Congress in Abu Dhabi, shines a light on both the urgent challenges and the powerful possibilities before us. While species like Arctic seals and many birds face growing threats, the recovery of the green turtle reminds us that conservation works when we act with determination and unity. As we look ahead to the Climate COP in Belém, governments and communities have a pivotal opportunity to accelerate action that protects biodiversity, stabilises our climate, and builds a future where people and nature flourish together,” said Dr Grethel Aguilar, IUCN Director General.
Climate change pushes Arctic seals closer to extinction
Today’s update shows that the hooded seal (Cystophora cristata) has declined from Vulnerable to Endangered, while the bearded seal (Erignathus barbatus) and harp seal (Pagophilus groenlandicus) have moved from Least Concern to Near Threatened.
The primary threat to Arctic seals is sea ice loss driven by global warming. Arctic seals rely on sea ice for breeding and raising their pups as well as for moulting, resting, and accessing foraging areas. Thinning and disappearing sea ice also affects Arctic seals’ feeding habits, and makes the Arctic more accessible to humans, further increasing the overall risk to these species.
Global warming is occurring four times faster in the Arctic than in other regions, which is drastically reducing the extent and duration of sea ice cover. This threatens all ice-dependent seals, walrus (Odobenus rosmarus) and other marine mammals in the Arctic, as well as Antarctic ice-seals, and sub-polar seal species that depend on ice such as the Caspian seal (Pusa caspica).
Ice-dependent seals are a key food source for other animals. In the Arctic this includes polar bears, as well as Indigenous people living throughout the region. They also play a central role in the food web, consuming fish and invertebrates and recycling nutrients. Their disproportionate impact on the ecosystem makes them ‘keystone species’, meaning the health of the entire marine environment is linked to their survival.
“Each year in Svalbard, the retreating sea ice reveals how threatened Arctic seals have become, making it harder for them to breed, rest and feed. Their plight is a stark reminder that climate change is not a distant problem – it has been unfolding for decades and is having impacts here and now. Protecting Arctic seals goes beyond these species; it is about safeguarding the Arctic’s delicate balance, which is essential for us all,” said Dr Kit Kovacs, Co-Chair of IUCN’s Species Survival Commission Pinniped Specialist Group and Svalbard Programme Leader at the Norwegian Polar Institute.
Additional pressures on Arctic seals include shipping, noise, oil and mineral exploitation, hunting, and bycatch in fisheries. Safeguarding key habitats from human activities, reducing bycatch, hunting sustainably, and minimising noise impacts are critical steps to halt Arctic seal declines.
Deforestation driving global bird declines
This IUCN Red List update includes reassessments of 1,360 bird species and completes the eighth comprehensive assessment of all bird species worldwide by BirdLife International. Involving thousands of experts over nine years, 1,256 (11.5%) of the 11,185 species assessed are globally threatened. Overall, 61% of bird species have declining populations – an estimate that has increased from 44% in 2016.
The most prevalent cause of bird population declines is habitat loss and degradation, driven especially by agricultural expansion and intensification and logging – the foremost threats to birds at risk of extinction.
This update highlights Madagascar, West Africa, and Central America as regions where tropical forest loss poses a growing threat to birds. In Madagascar, 14 endemic forest bird species have been uplisted to Near Threatened and three to Vulnerable, including the Schlegel’s asity (Philepitta schlegeli), whose males have vibrant blue and green face wattles. In West Africa, five species are now Near Threatened, including the black-casqued hornbill (Ceratogymna atrata), which is also hunted and traded. In Central America, forest loss has pushed the tail-bobbing northern nightingale-wren (Microcerculus philomela) to Near Threatened.
“That three in five of the world’s bird species have declining populations shows how deep the biodiversity crisis has become and how urgent it is that governments take the actions they have committed to under multiple conventions and agreements,” said Dr Ian Burfield, BirdLife’s Global Science Coordinator (Species) and Bird Red List Authority Coordinator. “The restoration of native forest habitat on Rodrigues Island, facilitating the successful recovery of the endemic Rodrigues warbler (Acrocephalus rodericanus) from Critically Endangered in 1996 to Least Concern today, shows what is possible through partnership and perseverance.”
Birds play vital roles in ecosystems and for people, serving as pollinators, seed dispersers, pest controllers, scavengers and ecosystem engineers. For example, hornbills can disperse up to 12,700 large seeds per km² each day, supporting ecosystem function and carbon storage in tropical forests. However, agriculture, logging, invasive species, hunting and trapping, and climate change continue to pose significant threats to birds globally.
Green sea turtle rebounds thanks to global conservation action
The green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) has improved in status from Endangered to Least Concern, thanks to decades of sustained conservation action. Found in tropical and subtropical waters worldwide, the global population of green turtles has increased approximately 28% since the 1970s, despite ongoing threats to some subpopulations.
Green turtles are keystone species in tropical marine ecosystems such as seagrass meadows and coral reefs, and have held cultural, culinary, spiritual, and recreational importance for people worldwide for millennia.
Conservation efforts have focused on protecting nesting females and their eggs on beaches, expanding community-based initiatives to reduce unsustainable harvest of turtles and their eggs for human consumption, curtailing trade, and using Turtle Excluder Devices and other measures to reduce the accidental capture of turtles in fishing gear. Efforts in Ascension Island, Brazil, Mexico and Hawai’i have been particularly successful, with some subpopulations rebounding to close to pre-commercial exploitation levels.
Despite this global improvement, green turtles remain significantly depleted compared to their abundance prior to European colonisation and their widespread unsustainable use and trade in many parts of the world. The direct, commercial and non-subsistence take of turtles and eggs along with fisheries bycatch remain significant sources of mortality, while unsustainable coastal and marine development destroys vital habitats. Climate change can also negatively affect green turtle habitats, particularly nesting beaches, with impacts already evident in the Southwest Pacific subpopulation – home to the world’s largest nesting rookery at Raine Island, Australia – where several years of declining hatchling production is a cause of significant concern.
“The ongoing global recovery of the green turtle is a powerful example of what coordinated global conservation over decades can achieve to stabilise and even restore populations of long-lived marine species. Such approaches must focus not only on the turtles, but on keeping their habitats healthy, and their ecological functions intact. Sea turtles cannot survive without healthy oceans and coasts, and humans can’t either. Sustained conservation efforts are key to assuring that this recovery lasts,” said Roderic Mast, Co-Chair of IUCN’s Species Survival Commission Marine Turtle Specialist Group.
Extinctions
This Red List update also sees six species moving to the Extinct category, including the Christmas Island shrew (Crocidura trichura) and a species of cone snail (Conus lugubris), both of which have become extinct since the late 1980s; the slender-billed curlew (Numenius tenuirostris), a migratory shorebird last recorded in Morocco in 1995; and Diospyros angulata, a species in the same genus as ebony trees, last recorded in the early 1850s.
Three Australian mammals, the marl (Perameles myosuros), the south-eastern striped bandicoot (Perameles notina); and the Nullarbor barred bandicoot (Perameles papillon); as well as Delissea sinuata, a plant native to the Hawaiian Islands, were assessed for the first time and enter the Red List as Extinct.
ENDS
Supporting quotes from Red List partners
“The fates of birds and trees are intertwined: trees depend on birds for regeneration, and birds depend on trees for survival. In this update, the Costa Rican tree Ocotea monteverdensis is assessed as Critically Endangered – not only a canopy species, but a vital food source for iconic threatened birds like resplendent quetzal and three-wattled bellbird, which in turn disperse its seeds. Tracking their extinction risks together provides a clearer picture of biodiversity loss and highlights solutions that can safeguard species as well as ecosystems,” said Dr Malin Rivers, Head of Conservation Prioritisation, Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI).
“Habitat loss, especially deforestation, is not only a major driver of climate change but also of biodiversity loss. The survival of more than a thousand species of threatened birds depends on many of the same forests that must remain standing in order to help deter rising temperatures. This IUCN Red List update helps underscore how deeply these two global crises are intertwined,” said Trond Larsen, Conservation International’s Senior Director of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Science.
”This update underscores how intertwined the climate and biodiversity crises are, but it also highlights the solution – thriving wildlife. The health of ocean, freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems depend on the wildlife species that together make them function. These ecosystems stabilise the climate, provide water and oxygen, and support communities across the world. Conserving and recovering species, as the building blocks of ecosystems, is therefore critical to human wellbeing,” said Barney Long, senior director of conservation strategies at Re:wild.
“The latest Red List update underscores what we see every day in NatureServe’s data: climate change, habitat loss, and invasive species are accelerating biodiversity declines at an alarming pace. Yet the recovery of the green sea turtle shows that when science, policy, and communities work together, conservation can succeed,” said Anne Bowser, CEO of NatureServe.
“Deforestation is one of many threats impacting Madagascar’s unique landscapes, such as the Central Highlands where the Kew-managed Itremo Massif Protected Area hosts 749 plant species, including the Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered tree, Podocarpus capuronii. Kew’s Madagascar team are assessing the extinction risk of Itremo’s plants, with over 40 published in today’s update,”said Dr Nivohenintsoa Rakotonirina, Madagascar Biodiversity Team Leader at Royal Botanical Gardens Kew. “Extinction risk assessments are crucial to guide conservation actions, including mitigation of deforestation, through our community-based Protected Area management.”
“Today’s update shows the scale of the challenge, but it’s also a moment for celebration – and a timely reminder of exactly why we must keep going. After years perched on the edge of extinction, the green sea turtle is no longer considered at risk. That’s a huge win, and testament to decades of dedicated work alongside local communities. We work every day to ensure other species have the same chance of recovery, regardless of how close they are to potentially vanishing forever. Every species is a vital part of the complex, interlinked web of life that we all depend on, and each of us has a role to play in shrinking the threats that put this web – and life as we know it – at risk. Reversing deforestation and restoring healthy ecosystems globally aren’t optional; they’re essential to protecting this incredible planet we call home. We urge world leaders at next month’s Climate Conference to seize their opportunity to secure a more stable, healthier future for us all,” said Mike Hoffmann, Head of Wildlife Recovery at ZSL.
“This Red List update includes collaborative efforts led by Texas A&M PhD candidate Maria A. Hurtado-Materon with the IUCN Species Survival Commission Small Mammal Specialist Group and partners across the Americas. Five species were updated following joint workshops with Mexican and Chilean colleagues and by using more accessible software, developed by Maria, which is helping us improve the efficiency and quality of Red List reassessments,” said Katherine Gonder, Department Head, Ecology and Conservation Biology, Texas A&M University.
Notes to editors
The IUCN World Conservation Congress 2025 in Abu Dhabi marks the 60th anniversary milestone of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™. A year-long social media campaign to raise awareness and funds to accelerate species assessments and reassessments will culminate at the Congress. The IUCN Red List Report: 60 Years of Success is available here.