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Biodiversity Facts and Figures

  • About one million plant and animal species face the threat of extinction

  • There has been a 68% average decline in the population sizes of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and fish between 1970 and 2016

  • At least 680 vertebrate species have gone extinct since the 16th century

  • Extinction threatens more than 40% of amphibians

  • Nearly 33% of reef-forming corals face the threat of extinction

  • Extinction threatens more than a third of all marine mammals

  • By 2016, more than 9% of all domesticated breeds of mammals used for food and agriculture had gone extinct, and at least 1,000 more species remain threatened

  • Human activities are overusing the earth’s bio-capacity by an estimated 56%

  • Human activities have significantly altered three-quarters of land-based environments and 66% of marine environments

  • The planet lost 100 million hectares of tropical forest from 1980 to 2000

  • The loss of wetlands is currently three times faster in percentage terms than forest loss

  • Climate change poses a threat to over 4161 species

  • Around 10% of insect species are now threatened with extinction

  • The population size of freshwater species – living in lakes, rivers and wetlands – has declined by 83% since 1970

  • The numbers of invasive alien species per country have risen by about 70% since 1970, across the 21 countries with detailed records

  • 91% of Ireland’s internationally-important habitats (bogs, grasslands) have ‘bad’ or ‘inadequate’ status

  • Over a third of Ireland’s 99 bee species are threatened with extinction

  • Butterfly populations have declined by 6% since 2008

  • Data from 17 County Hedgerow Surveys show that just one-third of hedgerows are in good condition for birds and other wildlife

  • Two-thirds of Ireland’s 202 regularly occurring birds are on the Red and Amber Lists of Birds of Conservation Concern

  • The Curlew has declined by 96% since the 70s

  • Of about 1,200 plants in Ireland, 100 are threatened with extinction and 20 are critically endangered