Trapped on island habitats made smaller by rising seas, Indonesia’s Komodo dragons were on Saturday listed as “endangered,” in an update of the wildlife Red List for Threatened Species that also warned overfishing threatens nearly two in five sharks with extinction.
About 28 percent of the 138,000 species assessed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) are now at risk of vanishing in the wild forever, as the destructive effects of human activity on the natural world worsen.
The most comprehensive survey of sharks and rays ever undertaken revealed that 37 percent of 1,200 species evaluated are now classified as directly threatened with extinction, falling into one of three categories: “vulnerable,” “endangered” or “critically endangered.”
Photo: AFP
That is one-third more species at risk than only seven years ago, said Nicholas Dulvy, a professor of marine biodiversity and conservation at Simon Fraser University and lead author of a study published on Monday last week underpinning the Red List assessment.
“The conservation status of the group as a whole continues to deteriorate, and overall risk of extinction is rising at an alarming rate,” he said.
However, the latest update of the Red List also highlights the potential for restoration, with four commercially fished tuna species pulling back from a slide toward extinction after a decade of efforts to curb over-exploitation.
The most spectacular recovery was seen in Atlantic bluefin tuna, which leapt from “endangered” across three categories to the safe zone of “least concern.”
The species — a mainstay of high-end sushi in Japan — was last assessed in 2011.
Komodo dragons — the largest living lizards — are found only in the World Heritage-listed Komodo National Park and neighboring Flores island.
The species “is increasingly threatened by the impacts of climate change,” as rising sea levels are expected to shrink its tiny habitat at least 30 percent over the next 45 years, the IUCN said.
“The idea that these prehistoric animals have moved one step closer to extinction due in part to climate change is terrifying,” said Andrew Terry, conservation director at the Zoological Society of London.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique