A million species of animals and plants are threatened with extinction. Scientists are sounding the alarm, now it's up to the states: it is in their power to take action. Humanity is an integral part of life on our planet, and its fate is associated with all living things. By destroying the foundations of biodiversity, we are endangering our own future, according to Le Monde journalists.
65 million years ago, more than half of the animals inhabiting the planet Earth became extinct, most of which were dinosaurs. Previous extinctions accounted for 95% of all animals and plants.
Fortunately, we weren't there yet. But now we can no longer ignore the fact that our planet is heading towards the sixth mass extinction. And this can happen not on the scale of geological time, but in just a few decades. And only man is to blame for this global catastrophe.
The international appeal launched on May 6 by the Intergovernmental Science Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services is of unprecedented severity. The rate of extinction of wildlife today is tens, if not hundreds of times higher than in the past ten million years. One million species of animals and plants are threatened with extinction. And the pace is only accelerating.
This conclusion, based on rigorous scientific calculations, presents humankind with a solution to a global problem, the same as global warming. For at least two reasons. First, nothing can justify one species - in this case ours, which arrogates to itself the right to decide whether to live or die for the rest of the species.
Man is the cause of the destruction of biodiversity: the destruction and fragmentation of natural habitats, inattention to the long-term consequences of actions that destroy the living conditions of living organisms in oceans and forests, exploiting natural resources, climate change, environmental pollution, pollution of ecosystems with waste, pesticides and plastics, introduction of alien species imposed by international trade.
Humanity is an integral part of biodiversity, and its fate is linked to all living things. Whether we talk about “ecosystem services” or, using the less utilitarian approach of “nature's contribution to people,” the reality is that by destroying the foundations of biodiversity, we are threatening our own future.
Crops are more than 75% dependent on pollination. More than four billion people are treated with natural medicines. More than two billion people need wood for heating or cooking. The quality of the air we breathe, the water we drink, the soil that feeds us also depends on the natural environment.
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Funding issue
And now the response to the scientists' warning is in the hands of the authorities. In 2010, at a conference on biodiversity in Japan, they set themselves ambitious targets, none of which came close to achieving. The next conference will take place at the end of 2020 in China. Then it will be necessary to make specific commitments that will be reflected in public policy and involve economic players and civil society.
Questions about a less predatory way of developing nature and the issue of financing - its equitable distribution between rich and poor countries for the conservation and restoration of biodiversity cannot be avoided. Today around the world is allocated about 8 billion euros per year. According to experts, it will be from 200 to 300 billion a year. How much do we value life?