Number of species at risk of extinction doubles to 2 million, says study

Monarch butterflies – which have been listed as vulnerable and endangered - are one of the insects increasingly at risk from the climate crisis and habitat loss. Photograph: Enrique Castro/AFP/Getty Images

Two million species are at risk of extinction, a figure that is double previous UN estimates, new analysis has found.

While scientists have long documented the decline of species of plants and vertebrates, there has always been significant uncertainty over insects, with the UN making a “tentative estimate” of 10% threatened with extinction in 2019.