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.