Over 17,000 species assessed in a major international biodiversity study are threatened with extinction, a leading environmental group has warned.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature, IUCN, surveyed 47,677 species of animals and plants this year to measure conservation actions needed to protect them.

The assessment put 17,291 species — which means a fifth of mammals, a third of amphibians and reptiles and more than two thirds of plants — in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

“This year's IUCN Red List makes for sobering reading. These results are just the tip of the iceberg,” Craig Hilton-Taylor, manager of the IUCN Red List Unit, said.

“We have only managed to assess 47,663 species so far; there are many more millions out there which could be under serious threat,” he added.

The Switzerland-based group added only one mammal to the list this year. The Eastern Voalavo, a rodent that lives in the mountainous forests of Madagascar, is classified as endangered, two steps from extinction in the wild.

Almost 300 reptiles were identified this year threatened with extinction, including the Panay monitor lizard and the sail-fin water lizard. Both of the reptiles are hunted for food and are threatened by logging in their native the Philippines.

The update suggests that a serious pan-species extinction crisis is imminent.

NAT/MTM/AKM