Researchers at Duke University in the US used remote sensing data to map recent land-use changes that are reducing suitable habitat for more than 600 bird species in the Atlantic forest of Brazil, Central America, the western Andes of Colombia, Sumatra, Madagascar and Southeast Asia.
Out of these 600 species, only 108 are currently classified by the IUCN Red List as being at risk of extinction.
"Good as it is, the Red List assessment process dates back 25 years and does not make use of advances in geospatial technologies," said Stuart L Pimm from Duke University.
"We have powerful new tools at our fingertips, including vastly improved digital maps, regular global assessments of land use changes from satellite images, and maps showing which areas of the planet are protected by national parks," he said.
Also Read
"The Red List employs rigorously objective criteria, is transparent, and democratic in soliciting comments on species decisions," he said.
For instance, while the Red List currently includes estimates of the size of a specie's geographical range in its assessment process, it fails to account for how much preferred habitat remains within that range, said lead author Natalia Ocampo-Penuela, who received her PhD from Duke this year.
"Knowing how much of this preferred habitat remains - and how much of it has been destroyed or degraded - is vital for accurately assessing extinction risks, especially for species that have small geographical ranges to begin with. But it Is ignored in the current Red List assessment process," she said.
"When these factors are accounted for, some species that are not currently considered at risk of extinction likely have ranges that are smaller than those that the Red List otherwise quite sensibly decides are at risk," said Clinton Jenkins, who directs a biodiversity mapping site.
"Preventing these extinctions requires knowing what species are at risk and where they live," she said.
The study was published in the journal Science Advances.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content