The extinction crisis of the world's amphibians is easing rapidly

Abstract

A recent paper (Nature 622, 308-14)1 analysed changes in the extinction risk of 7,102 amphibian species from 1980 to 2004 to 2022 using the Red List Index2,3 (RLI) of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). It concluded that the global amphibian extinction crisis has not abated. However, this conclusion appears too pessimistic and not supported by the data. Rather, it is a result of intrinsic limitations of the RLI. These limitations have implications well beyond amphibians, as the RLI is used worldwide for policy, for example as a headline indicator for the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework4.