Climate change 'could make one in six species extinct by end of the century'

Plants and animals of South America, Australia and New Zealand are at risk

STEVE CONNOR

SCIENCE EDITOR 

Thursday 30 April 2015

One in six species could face extinction by the end of the century as a direct result of increasing global temperatures, an analysis of the threat posed by climate change to wildlife has found.

If the world continues down the existing path of carbon dioxide emissions, the rate of mass extinction will not just get worse for every 1C extra rise in global average temperatures, it will actually accelerate, the study discovered.

The endemic plants and animals of South America, Australia and New Zealand are particularly at risk of rising temperatures because for many of these rare species there is nowhere else to go when their only homeland becomes uninhabitable, scientists found.

On current climate projections, which would see global average temperatures reach about 4C higher than pre-industrial times by 2100, the study found that 16 per cent of species in the world would face the risk of imminent extinction purely because of climatic factors, rather than from habitat loss, environmental degradation or ocean acidification.

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