BREAKING: 1 million species on brink of extinction due to humans

[Chromatislaps 34,854]

One million of the planet's eight million species are threatened with extinction by humans, scientists warned Monday in what is described as the most comprehensive assessment of global nature loss ever.

Their landmark report paints a bleak picture of a planet ravaged by an ever-growing human population, whose insatiable consumption is destroying the natural world.

The global rate of species extinction "is already tens to hundreds of times higher than it has been, on average, over the last 10 million years," according to the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), a UN committee, whose report was written by 145 experts from 50 countries.

Shrinking habitat, exploitation of natural resources, climate change and pollution are the main drivers of species loss and are threatening more than 40% of amphibians, 33% of coral reefs and over a third of all marine mammals with extinction, the IPBES report said.

"The health of ecosystems on which we and all other species depend is deteriorating more rapidly than ever," said Sir Robert Watson, IPBES chair, adding that "transformative change" is needed to save the planet.

The report comes six months after the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)warned that the world has less than 12 years to avoid catastrophic levels of global warming.

In the same way that the IPCC report put the climate crisis on the political agenda, the authors of the IPBES report hope that it will thrust nature loss into the global spotlight.

Managing the land

Just as with climate change, humans are the main culprits of biodiversity damage, altering 75% of Earth's land and 66% of marine ecosystems since pre-industrial times, according to the report.

The report emphasizes the disastrous impact of population growth and rising demand. It notes that the world's population has more than doubled (from 3.7 to 7.6 billion) in the last 50 years, and gross domestic product per person is four times higher.

More than a third of the world's land and 75% of freshwater supplies are used for crop or livestock production, it noted.

"[There is] very little of the planet left that has not been significantly altered by us," Sandra Diaz, co-author of the report and professor of ecology at the University of Córdoba, told CNN. "We need to act as stewards for life on Earth."

Diaz said countries in the Global North are particularly to blame for nature damage due to their "unsustainable" levels of consumption, especially when it comes to fishing and logging.

 

The 'ecological foundations of society' are in peril, a massive UN report warns

In 2015, a third of marine stocks were being fished at unsustainable levels and the amount of raw timber being harvested has increased by almost half since 1970, with up to 15% of it cut illegally, according to the report.

Marine plastic pollution has increased tenfold since 1980, with an average of 300-400 million tons of waste dumped into the world's waters annually.

Pollution entering coastal ecosystems has produced more than 400 ocean "dead zones," totalling an area bigger than the United Kingdom. These areas are so starved of oxygen they can barely support marine life.

 

It's not too late

Despite the ominous picture "it is not too late to make a difference, but only if we start now at every level from local to global," said Watson, adding that this would require an overhaul of economic systems and a shift in political and social mindsets.

Diaz said that governments should implement drastic changes now to avoid a "dire future" in 10-20 years when their "food and climate security [is] in jeopardy."

 

Climate change has already contributed to biodiversity loss by triggering more extreme weather events and rising sea levels and will exacerbate the crisis over the coming decades, the report noted.

The report says we can improve sustainability in farming by planning landscapes so that they provide food while also supporting the species that live there. Other suggestions include reforming supply chains and reducing food waste.

When it comes to healthy oceans, the report recommends effective fishing quotas, designated protected areas and reducing the pollution that runs off from the land into the sea, among other actions.

Rachel Warren, professor of global change and environmental biology at the University of East Anglia, told CNN that governments should focus on "the restoration of destroyed or degraded ecosystems with native species [as this] helps to address both biodiversity loss and climate change."

"Biodiversity underpins ecosystem services such as pollination, flood prevention, water and air purification, and soil conservation. We are in danger of losing vital ecosystem services which will have major negative consequences for human civilization," she said.

Guenter Mitlacher, director of international biodiversity policy at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), said, "Ours is the first generation with the tools to see how the Earth has been changed by people at our own peril. We're also the last generation with the opportunity to influence the course of many of those changes. Now is the time to act, not halfheartedly and incrementally but drastically and boldly."

Bengal tigers could vanish from one of their final strongholds

The IPBES report comes ahead of two high-level summits in 2020 where world leaders will scale up their climate and environment protection goals. That is when China will host the UN convention on biodiversity to set new 20-year targets and when the signatories of the 2015 Paris Agreement to keep global warming to less than 2 degrees will revise their commitments.

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/05/06/world/one-million-species-threatened-extinction-humans-scn-intl/index.html

[27monster27 16,039]

This is the nightmare of the ongoing halocene extinction. People need to take this more serious and put an end to it.

[VoldeLorde2 8,389]

It makes me sad that the earth has thrived for billions of years, and humans have managed to destroy it in hundreds of years. It makes me angry

[Delusional Aura 5,129]

I wonder if God ever anticipated this while he was creating us?

[Chromatislaps 34,854]

14 minutes ago, 27monster27 said:

This is the nightmare of the ongoing halocene extinction. People need to take this more serious and put an end to it.

key is to live more durable, clean energy, less to no use of plastics but more durable product. Consider buying clothes from thrift stores instead of from online stores, use public transport instead of your own car, buy organic foods, eat flexitarian (less meat and fish, more vegetarian)...if more people started doing this...we can reduce the burden on the earth.

[dlioncourt91 765]

We are our own destruction.

[Bye 3,947]

33 minutes ago, VoldeLorde2 said:

It makes me sad that the earth has thrived for billions of years, and humans have managed to destroy it in hundreds of years. It makes me angry

The Earth itself will survive and nature will find a way long after we're dust. But its unfortunate for the other species co-existing with us, because we're destroying them along with ourselves. 

It's never too late to better ourselves as a species but I don't see it happening. 

[Princess Diana 24,487]

Literally HOW we as the public could do to help? I’m literally trying my best to set things right but I feel like it just keeps ****ing up. This is upsetting. I tried to recycle often, going for vegan etc. But I feel like that itself isn’t enough. ****.

[Reginald 13,843]

We have to hold the massive corporations destroying our world accountable. 

Honestly,  them all. What's the point of having money and power if the world you live in is dead?

[Chromatislaps 34,854]

26 minutes ago, Reginald said:

We have to hold the massive corporations destroying our world accountable. 

Honestly,  them all. What's the point of having money and power if the world you live in is dead?

Shell and other oil companies/ mass food production companies are mostly accountable. They should be taxed heavily, and be forced to invest in short and long term solutions.

[Chromatislaps 34,854]

47 minutes ago, River Phoenix said:

Literally HOW we as the public could do to help? I’m literally trying my best to set things right but I feel like it just keeps ****ing up. This is upsetting. I tried to recycle often, going for vegan etc. But I feel like that itself isn’t enough. ****.

there should be communities where people grow organic foods themselves, try get your energy from clean renewable energy provider companies at least you'll be contributing to a change. Try getting your concerns known with your local politicians etc..it's the small things that if everyone does it, makes big changes. 20-25 years ago no-one used smart phones/etc, barely any people had internet...look how quick that spread. This same mentality needs to happen regarding awareness on durability of energy, living in balance with the environment and use/reuse of resources.

Don't blame yourself, because one person alone doesn't make the change.. It's one person that does make the change if we all want a change.

I think there needs to be a "luxury" tax...a tax that will tax "new" luxury products in both foods/utilities/transports. The world needs basic necesities, not "luxury" products if the world goes down because of the production, consumption and transportation of them. That money needs to be redirected by the government to durability grants, that allows companies developing durable products/energy etc to thrive.

Big companies should be forced to invest in durable production/durable product creation, durable transportation, recycling of older products/efficient use of energy/use clean energy, etc. And Governments should help to support that change. I think in general the US, China, India and Russia need to be prepared to make these big changes

Also there will need to be birthcontrol laws in a lot of countries. The population growth need to be controlled and brought down to 4 billion.

The entire economy needs to be overturned and focus on durability and recycling of existing waste/resources. It's the only way to go forward.

Agriculture needs to be done in greenhouse skyscrapers instead of just fields, it allows for more ground coverage, it will create a lot of jobs, and if supported by durable energy could change our food supplies for the better. We would possibly need less transportation and cities can grow their own foods, which means less CO2 and waste.

[ItsTommyBitch 12,640]

Meanwhile we can't even agree on Climate Change with Conservatives in the U.S. because greed, I just cant

 

[Chromatislaps 34,854]

14 minutes ago, ItsTommyBitch said:

Meanwhile we can't even agree on Climate Change with Conservatives in the U.S. because greed, I just cant

 

Off with their heads, they had their time. We have to fix their ****...if they don't...they don't deserve to be in power. #TimeForAFckingChange

PS: for the Social justice warriors that come for me and say, oh but you can't say controversial sh1t like that..think of this: we as humans kill animals and nature on a annual basis, and the scale is MUCH worse than the holocaust...and if we want to survive as a species it's people like them that need to go (out of office)...if need be, we need to force them out of office. There is no room for greed anymore

[Sassy McSass 814]

I just think it’s so sad how the human race acts like it’s entitled to use the whole planet regardless of the other animals just because we have superior intelligence. Makes it seem not so superior after all. 

[Delusional Aura 5,129]

1 hour ago, River Phoenix said:

Literally HOW we as the public could do to help? I’m literally trying my best to set things right but I feel like it just keeps ****ing up. This is upsetting. I tried to recycle often, going for vegan etc. But I feel like that itself isn’t enough. ****.

Honey just live your life tbh. Don't think too much about it. Do what you can. Other than that just live life.