The world is facing an enormous biodiversity crisis with extinction rates up to a thousand times faster than the historical average.<br /><br />It's the focus of a two-week UN meeting in Japan where more than 190 delegates are working towards forming new targets to help manage and restore forests, waterways and animal habitats.<br /><br />According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, 70 percent of the earth's coral reefs are endangered or are already destroyed.<br /><br />The reefs provide food, jobs and income sources for more than 500 million people worldwide, not to mention, a crucial habitat for sea life.<br /><br />It also reports that a massive 22 percent, nearly a quarter of the world's mammals, have already been wiped off the planet, or are currently under threat.<br /><br />But the most at-risk set of species is amphibians. Nearly a third of the world's different frogs and toads are at risk.<br /><br />Introduced species are one of the many threats to biodiversity. They often kill off native flora and fauna.<br /><br />But one Japanese river has an especially unwelcome visitor. Piranhas are flourishing in the Tama river, which has now been dubbed the "Tamazon".<br /><br />Al Jazeera's Steve Chao reports.
