Four UK bird species including puffins 'face extinction'

Puffins are among four UK bird species now at risk of extinction, according to the latest revision of a global conservation database.

The Atlantic puffin population is still in the millions, but fewer young birds are surviving to breed

Atlantic puffins, European turtle doves, Slavonian grebes and pochards are on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species for birds.

This means the number of UK species on the critical list has doubled to eight. Puffins are vulnerable to pollution and declining food sources, ecologists say. Another 14 UK species are considered to be "near threatened".

'Erosion of wildlife'

Martin Harper, conservation director with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), said the "global wave of extinction is now lapping at our shores".

"The erosion of the UK's wildlife is staggering and this is reinforced when you talk about puffin and turtle dove now facing the same level of extinction threat as African elephant and lion, and being more endangered than the humpback whale," he said.

Turtle dove numbers are in decline

Curlew sandpipers have been added to the near-threatened list

Although the Atlantic puffin population is still in the millions, fewer young birds are surviving to breed.

Reasons include a recent decline in the population of puffins' prey, such as the sand eel, and vulnerability to pollution such as oil spills, according to advisory body the Joint Nature Conservation Committee.

They have been listed as vulnerable to extinction, the lowest of three categories behind critically endangered and endangered.

Shetland has been listed as the best destination for watching puffins, according to a National Geographic list of the top 10 places to see wildlife.

Unexplained decline

A decline in turtle dove numbers across Europe of more than 30% in the past 16 years has also made it vulnerable to extinction.

The decline in the UK has been particularly high, with more than nine out of every ten birds being lost since the 1970s, according to conservation group Birdlife.

This is partly due to an as yet unexplained decline in the number of breeding pairs, the RSPB believes.

The Slavonian Grebe migrates to breed in a handful of Scottish lochs

Pochards are mostly seen in the UK in the autumn and winter when they migrate from Russia and eastern Europe

The migratory species also flies over the Mediterranean where, especially in Malta, there is a tradition of spring shooting birds. The country recently rejected a ban on hunting birds in a referendum.

The decline in Slavonian grebes in the UK is in part down to a reduction in successful breeding pairs, although conservationists say specific reasons for this are unclear.

Hunting and habitat destruction are thought to be to blame for the reduction in pochard populations.

Other UK birds that have been added to the near-threatened list include oystercatchers, lapwings, the curlew sandpiper and bar-tailed godwit.

They join species already listed such as the black-tailed godwit and curlew.

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Critically endangered UK bird species

• European turtle-dove
• Slavonian grebe
• Pochard
• Atlantic puffin
• Balearic shearwater
• Aquatic warbler
• Long-tailed duck
• Velvet scoter

Near-threatened UK bird species

• Razorbill

• Meadow pipit

• Sooty shearwater
• Red knot

• Curlew sandpiper

• Eurasian oystercatcher

• Bar-tailed godwit

• Black-tailed godwit
• Red kiteEurasian curlew
• Common eider
• Dartford warbler
• Redwing
• Northern lapwing

From BBC News. Science/ Environment

UN: Climate plans must go further to prevent dangerous warming

The UN has released its assessment of national plans to limit climate change, submitted by 146 countries.

Carbon emissions will be "significantly dented" according to the UN, if all the plans are put into action

Officials say the submissions, in their current form, won't keep global temperatures from rising by more than the 2C danger threshold.

The global total of carbon emissions will continue to grow, although more slowly than over the past two decades.

However the UN report says the plans are a major step forward and the 2C goal is still "within reach".

The UN believes that these national climate plans, called Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) will form the cornerstone of a binding, global treaty on climate change that will be agreed at a conference in Paris in December.

According to the UN, the submissions now cover around 86% of global emissions: about four times the amount covered by the Kyoto Protocol, the world's first carbon cutting treaty.

Their assessment is decidedly upbeat about the plans, despite acknowledging that taken together they point to rises in global temperatures of 2.7C above the pre-industrial level.

Scientists have determined that if temperature rises exceed 2C, this will lead to significant and dangerous climate impacts, which will especially hit the world's poor.

UN climate chief, Christiana Figueres, said the plans were an excellent first step: "The INDCs have the capability of limiting the forecast temperature rise to around 2.7C by 2100, by no means enough but a lot lower than the estimated four, five, or more degrees of warming projected by many prior to the INDCs."

Observers say the 2.7C figure is a substantial improvement on 3.1C, which was the estimate when the plans were assessed last December.

UN climate conference 30 Nov - 11 Dec 2015

COP 21 - the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties - will see more than 190 nations gather in Paris to discuss a possible new global agreement on climate change, aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions to avoid the threat of dangerous warming due to human activities.

Explained: What is climate change?

In video: Why does the Paris conference matter?

From BBC News

Lion populations in Africa 'could halve in 20 years'

The number of lions in Africa is rapidly dropping, except in highly-managed areas in the south of the continent, a study has found.

Almost all lion populations that historically exceeded 500 are declining.

The study suggests that lion populations in unprotected areas could be cut in half over the next two decades.

The paper's authors say lions should now be upgraded to an endangered species in Central and West Africa.

The loss of habitat, hunting, and a demand for traditional medicine have all contributed to population decline.

Lions are currently considered "vulnerable" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, but endangered status means they would be considered at "a very high risk of extinction in the wild".

The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, says "many lion populations are either now gone or expected to disappear within the next few decades".

The study predicts a 67% chance that lions in West and Central Africa will decline by half.

African lion populations are declining everywhere on the continent, with the exception of Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe, which are having success with what the paper calls "small, fenced, intensively managed, and funded reserves".

There is a 67% chance that lions in West and Central Africa will decline by half within 20 years, while East African populations have a 37% chance of being halved in the same time.

Those predictions are based on trends in 47 lion populations, containing more than 8,200 animals.

The decline could lead to a reversal of previous trends, making the protected, managed populations of southern Africa more viable than the East African savannah.

A reduction in lion numbers could also change the local ecosystems, "with the lion no longer playing a pivotal role as apex predator", the study says.

The authors also warned that the African lion could come to rely on the small, managed reserves, "and may no longer be a flagship species of the once vast natural ecosystems across the rest of the continent."

From BBC News- Science/Environment