Years of inaction is to blame for putting hundreds of Australian plants and animals at risk of extinction, the federal government says.

Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett says habitat destruction and climate change had continued the trend towards species extinction with some of Australia's most iconic animals, including the Tasmanian Tiger, now under threat.

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The minister was responding to the latest Red List of threatened species around the globe, released by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which included 788 Australian plants and animals.

Mammals endangered

Animals most at risk in Australia included 57 mammals, 44 species of birds, 38 species of reptiles and 48 amphibians.

Worldwide the IUCN says 16,928 species were threatened and 3,246 were critically endangered.

The catalogue of the most vulnerable underscored the urgent need for the global community to tackle human-induced climate change, Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown says.

Senator Brown also called on the federal government to lead the charge, with the first step to prevent the clear-felling and burning of native forests and woodlands.

Mr Garrett says the federal government recognised the serious risks to native animals and plants from factors including invasive species, habitat destruction and climate change.

Management 'deficiency'

But he says the findings of the IUCN underlined the deficiencies of the natural resource management policies of the previous government.

"After years of inaction and failure to ensure funding went to addressing the most serious threats to our native plants and animals, including climate change, we see a continuing trend towards species extinction," Mr Garrett says.

"The fact is that despite repeated warnings of the growing threats to our native animals, the former government went missing, they had no targets, no plans and the results are plain to see."

According to the Red List, the Tasmanian devil is now threatened after a 60 per cent fall in numbers over the past 10 years because of a facial tumour disease.

Among those animals considered critically endangered, with less than 120 of each still alive, are the northern hairy-nosed wombat, Gilbert's potoroo, the Lord Howe long-eared bat and the brush-tail bettong.

Nicola Markus, the chief conservation officer for Bush Heritage Australia, said few species currently being monitored were safe.

Species in 'dire straits'

"Once again a sad list of species is in dire straits," Dr Markus says of the Red List.

"The lists of the dead and dying get longer and longer each year."

Adelaide University professor of zoology Chris West says the release of the latest IUCN assessment was a moment of disappointment.

"The 2008 list is likely to ring and rering alarm bells for a roll call of species and related ecosystems that are declining to extinction," Professor West says.

IUCN scientist Jan Schipper says the Red List showed a quarter of the planet's 5,487 known mammals were clearly at risk of disappearing forever.

But he says the actual situation could be even grimmer because researchers had been unable to classify the threat level for another 836 mammals due to lack of data.

"In reality, the number of threatened mammals could be as high as 36 per cent," he says.

The most vulnerable groups are primates and marine mammals, including several species of whales, dolphins and porpoises.