Conservation efforts have helped a few species avoid extinction, but the impact hasn’t been broad enough to stem the long-term decline in biodiversity, new research finds.
The assessment, in two papers published Tuesday in the journal Science, concludes that the survival of one-fifth of the world’s vertebrates is threatened. However, the losses for three specific groups—mammals, birds and amphibians—would have been 20% greater without such conservation efforts as the creation of animal sanctuaries, habitat protection, captive-breeding programs and crackdowns on poachers.