Friday, March 23, 2018

Extinctions looming

The actions of mankind could lead to the extinction of half of African birds and mammals by the end of 2100, a UN-backed study conducted by 550 experts from around the world has said. The reports found a significant lack of progress on various UN biodiversity plans, including the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and its biodiversity targets, which were agreed by parties to the UN Convention on Biodiversity at their meeting in Aichi, Japan in 2010.  

"If we continue the way we are ... the sixth mass extinction, the first one ever caused by humans, will continue," the summit's chair Robert  Watson said.

It also found 42% of land-based animal and plant species in Europe and Central Asia have declined in the last decade.

Among the list of the biggest threats to food and water security were pollution, climate change, and deforestation.

In Africa, 500,000 square km of land is already estimated to have been degraded by overexploitation of natural resources, erosion, salinization and pollution.

 In the European Union, only 7 percent of marine species and 9 percent of marine habitat types show a ‘favourable conservation status’. 66 percent of habitat types' assessments show an ‘unfavourable conservation status’, with the others categorised as 'unknown'.

In the Americas, species are about 31 percent smaller than was the case at the time of European settlement. With the growing effects of climate change added to the other drivers, this loss is projected to reach 40 percent by 2050.


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