One in Six Species Facing Extinction in Current Climate Trajectory

Future increases in global temperatures will threaten up to one in six species if current climate policies are not modified,
Nursery frog
Nursery frogs are among the species most at risk.
according to new research published in the journal Science. Global extinction rates are currently at 2.8 percent, the study notes. If global average temperature rises by only 2 degrees C — a benchmark that many scientists think is no longer attainable — the extinction rate will rise to 5.2 percent, the study found. If the planet warms by 3 degrees C, the extinction risk rises to 8.5 percent. And if the current, business-as-usual trajectory continues, climate change will threaten one in six species, or 16 percent, the study says. The risk of species loss is most acute for areas that have unique climate ranges — particularly South America, Australia, and New Zealand — yet those regions are the least studied, the author notes.