Seals, birds under greater pressure

Arctic seals are being pushed closer to extinction by climate change and more than half of bird species around the world are declining under pressure from deforestation and agricultural expansion, according to an annual assessment from the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

- BY MELINA WALLING

HARP SEALS are threatened with extinction.

(SEAN D. ELLIOT The Day)

One bright spot is green sea turtles, which have recovered substantially thanks to decades of conservation efforts, the union said last week as it released its latest Red List of Threatened Species.

Although many animals are increasingly at risk of disappearing forever, the updated list shows how species can come back from the brink with dedicated effort, Rima Jabado, deputy chair of the union’s Species Survival Commission, told the Associated Press.

"Hope and concern go hand in hand in this work," Jabado wrote by email. "The same persistence that brought back the green sea turtle can be mirrored in small, everyday actions — supporting sustainable choices, backing conservation initiatives, and urging leaders to follow through on their environmental promises."

The list is updated every year by teams of scientists assessing data on creatures around the world. The scope of the work is enormous and important for science, said Andrew Farnsworth, a visiting scientist at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology who studies bird migration and wasn't involved with the union's report.