How do we reverse the catastrophic extinction crisis? New analysis reveals the power of dedicated species recovery actions

Wendy Elliott, WWF International, Kenya; David Mallon, Department of Natural Sciences, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK; Sean Hoban, Center for Tree Science, The Morton Arboretum, US, James EM Watson, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia; Dao Nguyen, IUCN, Switzerland; Mary Seddon: IUCN Species Survival Commission Mollusc Specialist Group, and UK; Domitilla Raimondo, Plant Conservation Committee, South African National Biodiversity Institute, South Africa

Iberian lynx populations have increased 10 fold in the last 20 years, due to dedicated efforts to conserve habitats, restore native prey populations (rabbits), ex-situ breeding, and then reintroduction into the wild. © Antonio Liébana;

Humankind is coming to realize that conservation of species is not an optional extra. In fact, the accelerating loss of biological diversity represents an existential threat to ourselves and our planet, in the same way as climate change. The two crises can be considered as two sides of the same coin, with failure to address one undermining efforts to address the other. The diverse array of wild animals, plants and fungi that share our planet are vital for our own existence — without them, we cannot have clean water, stable soils, reliable food supply and all the other ecosystem services on which we depend.

Yet everywhere we look, there is a species emergency. The headlines just seem to get worse — from the 1 million species estimated to be threatened with extinction, to the fact that vertebrate populations have declined an average of 68% since the 1970s, the warning sirens are blaring ever louder.

Less loud though are the solutions. The fact that there is one species on the planet — Homo sapiens — that can and, on occasion, has turned this around doesn’t make the headlines so often. But these stories of success are crucial for they take us from doom and gloom into hope.

©WWF Nepal / Samir Jung Thapa; The Greater One Horned Rhino which occurs only in India and Nepal has recovered from around 200 at the start of the 20th century to around 3,700 today, through a combination of habitat conservation including community led and managed corridor restoration, poaching prevention and translocations to re-establish new populations.

Humans have reversed the precipitous decline of Greater One-horned Rhino from around 200 individuals at the turn of the Century to 3,700 today, with a combination of measures including translocating rhinos into new areas of habitat to expand their range. Humans have reintroduced species once extinct in the wild, like Przewalski’s Horse, that are now flourishing. We have prevented the loss of endemic long-lived trees like Channel Island oaks by removing feral goats and pigs, managing fire, and replanting. We have even reversed the catastrophic decline of the most famous icon of species in danger — the Giant Panda — to such an extent that the species is no longer considered Endangered on the IUCN Red List.

Now a new analysis has revealed for the first time the real power of these interventions. A broad group of scientists used the data in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species to assess what actions were most needed to reverse extinction. The results were striking — whilst addressing the main drivers of species decline such as habitat loss and overhunting are crucial, these measures alone would not be sufficient to prevent extinction of over half the threatened species analysed. For these species, dedicated recovery actions such as those that were so effective for the panda and the greater one-horned rhino, are needed.

© Meghan Martin: Giant Panda populations have increased so significantly they are no longer listed as an ‘endangered species’ although they are still vulnerable, with less than 2,000 remaining in the wild. This is due to habitat conservation, including reducing fragmentation and reconnecting isolated populations, poaching prevention, capacity strengthening and community conservation. Communities in giant panda landscapes even collect wild plants in a ‘panda friendly’ way, which may end up in your ‘detox tea’!

The analysis also revealed that this isn’t important only for remote areas of rainforest and tundra. Almost every country in the world has species for which these recovery actions are needed — on average, 54 species per country.

The paper makes the compelling case for why it is essential that the emerging Global Biodiversity Framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity — which will set the pathway for action for the next decade — includes a strong target on species recovery actions. If this is dropped, implementation of the other targets such as protecting important places, restoring degraded habitats and combatting overexploitation will simply not be enough to prevent extinctions and bend the curve of species loss.

© Sabrina Schumann; The mountain gorilla is the only great ape not in steep decline. It has increased from 620 individuals in 1989 to over 1,000 today, due to dedicated efforts to conserve their habitat, control poaching, manage disease risks and most crucially, create value through mountain gorilla tourism, with revenue supporting conservation and strengthening community wellbeing. As a result, the Mountain Gorilla has been downlisted on IUCN’s red list from critically endangered to endangered.

For us, this analysis is great news. Yes, it means we have work to do, but we are better equipped now than ever before to recover species. We have technologies that enable us to do what was previously impossible — whether that’s camera traps that act as ‘windows’ to the secret lives of wildlife, increasing our understanding of their distribution and behaviours and thus enabling us to better conserve them, ‘pingers’ on fishing nets that emit noises that only dolphins can hear keeping them away from nets, eDNA which is revolutionalizing species monitoring or Artificial Intelligence that makes ranger patrols more effective.

There is also an ever increasing network of entities that are playing their part on species recovery — from indigenous peoples and local communities who have been managing and conserving species for generations, to governments, NGOs, individuals and even corporate entities — one palm oil plantation in Malaysia (Sabah Softwoods Berhard) has set aside a 14km strip through the plantation and has restored it to natural forest, providing a crucial corridor for elephants and orang-utans to move safely through. The power of this growing network of entities acting to recover species is immeasurable.

In Nepal, a combination of community restoration of tiger corridors, extension of core tiger habitats, controlling wildlife crime and strengthening community wellbeing lead to a remarkable almost tripling of its tiger population since 2008, from 121 to 355 today. © Shutterstock / PACO COMO / WWF-International

But with this growing network of species recovery actors comes a growing need to empower and equip that network, ensuring it has the tools, resources, know-how and support to be most effective. With this in mind, the conservation community have come together to develop a Global Species Action Plan (GSAP) and accompanying knowledge platform — GSAP SKILLS — which aims to ensure that anyone, anywhere, has what they need to recover threatened species. GSAP SKILLS will for the first time ever bring all the species recovery resources, tools, technologies and knowledge products together, and will be able to link people with what they need, quickly, and effectively. Global Conservation Consortia, piloted by Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) are pursuing a similar approach to link people, institutions, and resources. And a growing number of national ‘Centres for Species Survival’ established in partnership with the IUCN Species Survival Commission under the Reverse the Red movement are providing the engines of species recovery on the ground and in the water.

Anacapa Island: Several oak species endemic to the Channel Islands of California and Mexico were severely threatened by non-native livestock (e.g. goats and pigs) and invasive plants throughout the 20th century. A group of partners successfully removed the feral livestock from several islands, allowing seedlings to establish for the first time in decades, as well as removing invasive plants and planning fire regime management. Hundreds of seedlings have now been planted, with high survival rates. © Greg Bluffin

Extinction is, of course, forever. As the dominant species on our planet, most extinctions are driven by us, but we also have the power to reverse them — and doing so is in our own interest. We now have the evidence that species recovery actions are essential, and we are building the tools to put species recovery actions into practice. It is not too late. Together we can reverse the extinction crisis and restore a thriving planet.