Nearly half of the world’s migratory species are in decline and the global extinction risk is increasing, a new UN report has revealed. 

Some whale species, sea turtles and jaguars are among the animals at risk, according to the first-ever State of the World’s Migratory Species report, launched at the opening of a major UN wildlife conservation conference taking place this week in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. 

The report was issued by Secretariat of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), a UN biodiversity treaty. 

For more on the findings, UN News’s Anton Uspensky spoke to Amy Fraenkel, the CMS Executive Secretary, who began by providing the background to the treaty.