The future doesn't look good for many of the world's plants and animals. Conservationists have released a new report that lists more than 11,000 species around the world that are in immediate danger of dying off.

The global extinction crisis is as bad or worse than once believed, with some species dying off faster than anyone ever thought, says the latest version of the Red List. The report is thought to be the world's most comprehensive assessments of biodiversity, prepared by the World Conservation Union.

In the first update of the list in four years, the group paints a bleak picture: more than 5,400 animals and 5,600 plants face a high risk of extinction in the near future.

Included are some of the usual victims: rhinoceroses, turtles and orangutans. But there are some surprises. Six primate species joined the list due to the bush meat trade in parts of Asia and Africa. And a growing number of plants are also on the list, including many that are vital as basic ingredients of pharmaceuticals and traditional medicines.

The fact that the number of critically endangered species [the highest level of threat] has increased - mammals from 169 to 180; birds from 168 to 182 -- was a jolting surprise, even to those already familiar with today's increasing threats to biodiversity. These findings should be taken very seriously by the global community, says Maritta von Bieberstein Koch-Weser, IUCN's Director General.

Indonesia, India, Brazil and China are among the countries with the most threatened mammals and birds, while plant species are declining rapidly in South and Central America, Central and West Africa, and Southeast Asia.

The main cause of most of these near-extinctions is not surprising: itās us. The report says that humans are responsible for overfishing, pollution, habitat loss due to deforestation, farming and urban sprawl, and the use of threatened and endangered species in Asian medicine.

The Red List offers some possible solutions. It suggests a major increase in the global commitment of labour and money for habitat protection and biodiversity research.

Human and financial resources must be mobilized at between 10 and 100 times the current level to address this crisis, the Red List analysis report says.

Scientists still don't know how many plants and animals exist, they estimate it's around 1.8 million species. But the report says if this trend continues, many critical species could go extinct, before they're even discovered.