A UN report found out that human exploitation of the natural world has pushed a million plant and animal species to the brink of extinction.
The report, conducted by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), warned that species extinction rates are “accelerating” at an “unprecedented” rate because of the human-caused climate crisis and economic activity.
While the report’s findings are dire and cause for serious alarm, Watson said, there's still a window for action.
Eduardo Brondizio, the co-chair of the IPBES, echoed Watson, saying “business, as usual, has to end.
The IPBES report comes as youth-led movements around the world are organizing and taking to the streets en masse to pressure political leaders to take climate action in line with the urgency demanded by the scientific evidence.
What are the 5 direct drivers of change in nature with largest relative global impacts?
— IPBES (@IPBES) May 6, 2019
1: Change in land & sea use.
2: Direct exploitation of organisms.
3: Climate Change
4: Pollution
5: Invasive Species.
— Newly launched @IPBES #GlobalAssessment #IPBES7 pic.twitter.com/7JukwFrU15
Andrew Wetzler, managing director of the nature program for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), said that the IPBES assessment shows “that nature is collapsing around us and it’s a real wake-up call to humanity.”
- The average abundance of native species in most major land-based habitats has fallen by at least 20 percent, mostly since 1900;
- More than 40% of amphibian species, almost 33 percent of reef-forming corals, and more than a third of all marine mammals are threatened;
- The picture is less clear for insect species, but available evidence supports a tentative estimate of 10 percent being threatened;
- At least 680 vertebrate species had been driven to extinction since the 16th century, and more than 9 percent of all domesticated breeds of mammals used for food and agriculture had become extinct by 2016, with at least 1,000 more breeds still threatened.
Andy Purvis, professor at the Natural History Museum in London and one of the report’s main authors, said the findings show that the “society we would like our children and grandchildren to live in is in real jeopardy.”
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