Trump administration finalizes changes to 'weaken' Endangered Species Act

The Trump administration has finalized the changes to the way it enforces the landmark Endangered Species Act (ESA) on Monday. The administration says it will reduce regulatory burden and improve transparency and effectiveness but the critics see the move as an attempt that will lead to the extinction of more creatures.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service said in a statement, "the service is removing its blanket rule under section 4(d) of the ESA that automatically conveys the same protections for threatened species as for endangered species."

"This change will not affect the protections for species currently listed as threatened but will ensure that species listed as threatened in the future receive the protections tailored to the species' individual conservation needs", the service further added.

The Vice President of litigation at Earth Justice, a nonprofit public interest environmental law organization, Drew Caputo, said, “This effort to gut protections for endangered and threatened species has the same two features of most Trump administration actions: it's a gift to the industry, and it's illegal. We'll see the Trump administration in court.”

The Endangered Species Act is credited with helping save the bald eagle, California condor and scores of other animals and plants from extinction since President Richard Nixon signed it into law in 1973.

It currently protects more than 1,600 species in the United States and its territories.

A United Nations report warned in May that more than 1 million plants and animals globally face extinction, some within decades, owning to human development, climate change, and other threats. The report called the rate of species loss a record.