Anyone working in conservation science today will tell you that climate change is a central theme in a lot of our work, and for good reason. In almost all cases, modelling predicts that species will be negatively affected, sometimes catastrophically so. The Great Barrier Reef is hurtling towards being listed as World Heritage in Danger, thanks two massive coral bleaching events in 2016 and 2017 brought on by warming sea temperatures. Polar bears and ringed seals are losing their Arctic home, and the Bramble Cay Melomys has already gone the way of the dodo.

But what if I told you that exploitation – not climate change – was actually the largest threat to most species worldwide?