Komodo dragon, 2-in-5 shark species lurch towards extinction

Trapped on island habitats made smaller by rising seas, Indonesia's Komodo dragons were listed as "endangered" on Sept. 4, in an update of the wildlife Red List that also warned overfishing threatens nearly two-in-five sharks with extinction.

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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 impact of human activity on the natural world deepens.

But the latest update of the Red List for Threatened Species also highlights the potential for restoration, with four commercially fished tuna species pulling back from a slide towards 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.

"This shows that conservation works - when we do the right thing, a species can increase," said Jane Smart, global director of IUCN's Biodiversity Conservation Group.

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"But we must remain vigilant. This doesn't mean we can have a free-for-all of fishing for these tuna species."

A key message from the IUCN Congress, taking place in the French city of Marseille, is that disappearing species and the destruction of ecosystems are existential threats on a par with global warming.

And climate change itself is threatening the futures of many species, particularly endemic animals and plants that live on small islands or in certain biodiversity hotspots.

Komodo dragons - the largest living lizards - are found only in the World Heritage...