ABSTRACT Extinction. It is almost as though we dare not speak its name. Instead, words such as ‘threatened’ and ‘endangered’ are entrenched in conservation law and management as markers of risk. These terms are so entrenched that the nature of the risk is easily forgotten. On reflection, classifications of conservation status denote, of course, how close species are from disappearing forever. However, our familiarity with categories of biodiversity decline, the lack of explicit objectives to prevent avoidable extinctions within law and the failure of laws to directly tackle the drivers of biodiversity loss mean that the reality of extinction is ultimately buried in plain sight of the law. We need to change how extinction is seen and more importantly how it is felt within environmental law. An endling is the last of a kind. The final remaining individual of a plant or animal species. The paper explores the power and potential of endlings to illuminate the reality of extinction and our responsibilities to the more-than-human. Through stories of endlings past, recent and yet to come, the paper urges humans, and the legal instruments that encapsulate human values, to see and feel extinction and ultimately shift current extinction trajectories.

中文翻译：

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灭绝：隐藏在众目睽睽之下——“最后”的故事能否揭开环境法难以言说的真相？

摘要灭绝。就好像我们不敢说出它的名字一样。相反，诸如“受威胁”和“濒危”之类的词在保护法和管理中根深蒂固，作为风险标志。这些术语是如此根深蒂固，以至于风险的性质很容易被遗忘。仔细想想，保护状态的分类当然表明物种离永远消失的距离有多近。然而，我们对生物多样性下降类别的熟悉、缺乏防止法律范围内可避免的灭绝的明确目标以及法律未能直接解决生物多样性丧失的驱动因素，意味着灭绝的现实最终被法律所掩盖。我们需要改变看待灭绝的方式，更重要的是改变在环境法中的感受。结尾是最后一种。植物或动物物种的最后剩余个体。该论文探讨了终结的力量和潜力，以阐明灭绝的现实以及我们对超越人类的责任。通过过去、最近和即将到来的终结的故事，该论文敦促人类以及包含人类价值观的法律文书，看到并感受到灭绝，并最终改变当前的灭绝轨迹。