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Over 20,000 plant and animal species, including NSW native black grass-dart butterfly, under threat of extinction, report warns

Over 20,000 of the world's plant and animal species are facing extinction, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has warned in a report.

The update to its Red List of Threatened Species surveyed 76,199 species of plants and animals and found that 22,413 are now threatened with extinction.

Since November last year, 33 species have been declared extinct, including the world's largest known earwig.

The St Helena giant earwig can grow up to 80 millimetres and has not been seen since 1967.

"Since the early 1960s, its habitat has been degraded by the removal of nearly all shelter-providing surface stones for construction purposes," the report said.

"Increased predator pressures from mice, rats and invasive predatory invertebrates have also contributed to the earwig's extinction."

Meanwhile, the Pacific bluefin tuna has been moved from the "least concern" category to "vulnerable", meaning its survival is under threat.

The IUCN said the species was extensively targeted by the fishing industry for sushi and sashimi markets in Asia.

"Our planet is constantly losing its incredible diversity of life, largely due to our destructive actions to satisfy our growing appetite for resources," IUCN director general Julia Marton-Lefèvre said.

"But we have scientific evidence that protected areas can play a central role in reversing this trend."


Australia not immune


The NSW native black grass-dart butterfly was placed on the "endangered" list.

"The species is threatened primarily due to the invasion of introduced weeds and coastal development destroying its habitat," the report said.

"A significant proportion of its habitat exists in protected areas... and the effective management of these areas could play an important role in securing the species' future."

Environment Minister Greg Hunt said it would be wrong to sneer at the significance of the butterfly.

"These are important parts of the planet, our common biodiversity," he said.

"We have fought against whaling, we have sought to protect the most iconic of the world's large species, but the small ones matter as well."

New measures to prevent poaching

Poaching is a key reason many animals are placed on the threatened list, especially in Africa, but an Australian former special forces soldier is hoping to stem the decline.

Damien Mander worked with the Navy as a clearance diver, then to become a special forces sniper.

After spending time training soldiers in Iraq as a private military contractor, he looked to Africa to join an anti-poaching unit.

"When I went to Africa it was more for the adventure side of things," he said.

"I was travelling around... looking to get some new photos for Facebook, that type of stuff... most things in my life before then had been about me.

"But then you start to see the way these rangers put their lives on the line every day - you see the animals they're protecting, you see the animals that are being killed and you start to realise there's a little bit more in life than yourself."

He has lived in Africa since 2009, teaching park rangers his unique set of skills.

"It doesn't matter what you're doing with conservation or with nature, whether you want to run a lodge in the bush, or whether you want to go on a holiday or if you're a scientific researcher - everything all comes down back to one group of people - these rangers," he said.

"These game rangers or field rangers are out there on the front lines every day risking their life to protect nature and they're a very special group of people."

But he warned the war was not being won.

"Along the border of Mozambique and South Africa there you're seeing a low level insurgency, and you've got hardened groups of very well trained criminal syndicates who are crossing over into South Africa using automatic and high-powered rifles and taking out rhinoceros," he said.

"It's very unfortunate that someone with my skill set is required for conservation - but this is the world we've created for ourselves to manage.

"We are just putting bandages on top of bandages, but somebody has to do that.

"While we create a bit of time and space for people at a much higher level to figure out where this is going at a global level."