Species Extinction Rates 'Accelerating' with grave impacts on people around the world: UN
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| Insights by Inshorts |
DECLINE AT RATES UNPRECEDENTED IN HUMAN HISTORY
Biodiversity is vital to the livelihoods of eight mn people. However, its widespread destruction is adversely affecting the diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems.
According to a UN report, the rate of species extinctions is accelerating, with grave impacts around the world.
OVER ONE MILLION ANIMAL & PLANT SPECIES ARE NOW AT RISK OF EXTINCTION
Many of these within decades, more than ever before in human history. This includes 40% of amphibian species and a third of all marine mammals.
The average abundance of native species in most major land-based habitats has fallen by at least 20%, mostly since 1900.
GLOBAL WILDLIFE POPULATIONS PLUMMETED BY TWO-THIRDS SINCE 1970
The 2020 global LPI shows an average 68% decrease in monitored vertebrate species populations between 1970 and 2016.
BIGGEST DECLINES IN TROPICAL SUB-REGIONS OF AMERICAS
SOURCE : WWF
A WWF study says, there was a 94% decline of wildlife populations in tropical sub-regions of the Americas over the 50 years from 1970 - the largest fall anywhere.
Species are dying off 1,000 times more frequently today than during the 60 mn years before the arrival of humans, another study said.
INDUSTRIAL AGRICULTURE DRIVEN DECLINE & IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE
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| Source: Science Direct, IPBES |
Dramatic rates of decline could lead to over 40% of the world's insect species disappearing within decades, mostly due to industrial agriculture.
Some 3.5% of domesticated birds have become extinct since 2016 and nearly 23% of threatened birds have been affected by climate change.
AN SOS FOR LAND AND FRESHWATER LIFE
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| Source: WWE IPBES |
Freshwater species are declining faster than anything else, dropping by an average of 84% between 1970 and 2018.
Some 100 mn hectares of tropical forest were lost between 1980-2000, largely due to cattle ranching in Latin America and plantations in South-East Asia.
WHAT CAN WE DO T O SAVE THE PLANET?
The UN Report also says that it is not too late to make a difference, but only if we start now at every level from local to global.
Experts agree that one of the best ways of saving the planet is through transformation of the global food system as agriculture accounts for nearly 60% of biodiversity loss & about a quarter of CO2 emissions worldwide.
SMALL STEPS CAN MAKE A HUGE DIFFERENCE
According to WWF, moving away from a meat-dominated diet towards a more plant-based diet can lower the impact on the environment.
Transforming food systems, how we produce and consume will be critical to achieve several other of the 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals, it notes.
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