A 1.8-page report prepared by scientists from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecological Systems (IPBES), a summary of which (40 pages) was presented on Monday at a meeting of the platform at UNESCO headquarters in France, states that 1 million species of animals and plants on Earth are under threat of complete extinction. In the new report, scientists are using the term "The Sixth Mass Extinction" for the first time. But this time it is not nature itself that is called the cause, but human activity.
According to the authors of the report, of 8 million plant and animal species, including 5.5 million insect species, up to a million are threatened with extinction, including in the coming decades.
The authors of the report cite land-use changes, direct use of living organisms (eg hunting), climate change, environmental pollution and the spread of invasive species as key factors affecting biodiversity.
According to the researchers, 75 percent of the land, 40 percent of the oceans and 50 percent of river waters are already "showing degradation due to human activities." More than 40 percent of amphibians, 33 percent of reef corals and more than a third of marine mammals are at risk. Data on insects is less, but it is estimated that 10 percent of species are threatened with extinction. And if the trend continues, by 2190 there may be no insects left on Earth at all, which will radically change the entire biosphere. The report also notes that at least 680 vertebrate species have become extinct since the 16th century. Extinction threatens 25 percent of species, according to average estimates for all groups of plants and animals.
It is noted that every year a person extracts about 60 billion tons of renewable and non-renewable resources, which is almost twice as much as in 1980.
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Researchers believe that a disappointing picture can be tried to change through transformative change. By "transformative change" itself, we mean a complete reorganization of the human life system in terms of economics, technology and social development, which will require changing existing values and goals.
Nikolay Khizhnyak
