Page 28 - aruba-today-20190507

A28 SCIENCE
Tuesday 7 May 2019
U.N. report: Humans accelerating extinction of species

By SETH BORENSTEIN used for food have disap-
AP Science Writer peared. More than 40% of
People are putting nature the world's amphibian spe-
in more trouble now than cies, more than one-third of
at any other time in hu- the marine mammals and
man history, with extinction nearly one-third of sharks
looming over 1 million spe- and fish are threatened
cies of plants and animals, with extinction.
scientists said Monday. The report relies heavily on
But it's not too late to fix the research by the Interna-
problem, according to the tional Union for the Conser-
United Nations' first com- vation of Nature, or IUCN,
prehensive report on biodi- which is composed of bi-
versity. ologists who maintain a list
"We have reconfigured of threatened species.
dramatically life on the The IUCN calculated in
planet," report co-chair- March that 27,159 species
man Eduardo Brondizio of are threatened, endan-
Indiana University said at a gered or extinct in the wild
press conference. out of nearly 100,000 spe-
Species loss is accelerating cies biologists examined in
to a rate tens or hundreds depth. That includes 1,223
of times faster than in the In this Dec. 14, 2011, file photo, a lemur looks through the forest at Andasibe-Mantadia National mammal species, 1,492
past, the report said. More Park in Andasibe, Madagascar. bird species and 2,341 fish
than half a million species Associated Press species. Nearly half the
on land "have insufficient threatened species are
habitat for long-term sur- sentatives of all 109 nations. fight over scarcer resourc- per country has risen 70% plants.
vival" and are likely to go Some nations hit harder by es. Watson said the poor since 1970, with one spe- Scientists have only exam-
extinct, many within de- the losses, like small island in less developed countries cies of bacteria threaten- ined a small fraction of the
cades, unless their habitats countries, wanted more bear the greatest burden. ing nearly 400 amphibian estimated 8 million species
are restored. The oceans in the report. Others, such The report's 39-page sum- species. on Earth.
are not any better off. as the United States, were mary highlighted five ways "The key to remember is, it's The report comes up with
"Humanity unwittingly is at- cautious in the language people are reducing biodi- not a terminal diagnosis," 1 million species in trouble
tempting to throttle the liv- they sought, but they versity: said report co-author An- by extrapolating the IUCN's
ing planet and humanity's agreed "we're in trouble," — Turning forests, grass- drew Purvis of the Natural 25% threatened rate to the
own future," said George said Rebecca Shaw, chief lands and other areas into History Museum in London. rest of the world's species
Mason University biologist scientist for the World Wild- farms, cities and other Fighting climate change and using a lower rate for
Thomas Lovejoy, who has life Fund, who observed the developments. The habi- and saving species are the estimated 5.5 million
been called the godfather final negotiations. tat loss leaves plants and equally important, the re- species of insects, Wat-
of biodiversity for his re- "This is the strongest call animals homeless. About port said, and working son said. Outside scientists,
search. He was not part of we've seen for reversing three-quarters of Earth's on both environmental such as Lovejoy and others,
the report. the trends on the loss of na- land, two-thirds of its problems should go hand said that's a reasonable as-
"The biological diversity of ture," Shaw said. oceans and 85% of crucial in hand. Both problems sessment.
this planet has been re- The findings are not just wetlands have been se- exacerbate each other The report gives only a ge-
ally hammered, and this about saving plants and verely altered or lost, mak- because a warmer world neric "within decades" time
is really our last chance to animals, but about preserv- ing it harder for species to means fewer species, and frame for species loss be-
address all of that," Love- ing a world that's becom- survive, the report said. a less biodiverse world cause it is dependent on
joy said. Conservation sci- ing harder for humans to — Overfishing the world's means fewer trees and many variables, including
entists convened in Paris live in, said Robert Watson, oceans. A third of the plants to remove heat- taking the problem serious-
to issue the report, which a former top NASA and Brit- world's fish stocks are over- trapping carbon dioxide ly, which can reduce the
exceeded 1,000 pages. ish scientist who headed fished. from the air, Lovejoy said. severity of the projections,
The Intergovernmental the report. — Permitting climate The world's coral reefs are a Watson said.
Science-Policy Platform on "We are indeed threaten- change from the burn- perfect example of where "We're in the middle of the
Biodiversity and Ecosystem ing the potential food secu- ing of fossil fuels to make climate change and spe- sixth great extinction crisis,
Services (IPBES) included rity, water security, human it too hot, wet or dry for cies loss intersect. If the but it's happening in slow
more than 450 researchers health and social fabric" of some species to survive. world warms another 0.9 motion," said Conservation
who used 15,000 scientific humanity, Watson told The Almost half of the world's degrees (0.5 degrees Cel- International and University
and government reports. Associated Press. land mammals — not in- sius), which other reports of California Santa Barbara
The report's summary had It's also an economic and cluding bats — and nearly say is likely, coral reefs will ecologist Lee Hannah, who
to be approved by repre- security issue as countries a quarter of the birds have probably dwindle by 70% was not part of the report.
already had their habitats to 90%, the report said. At Five times in the past, Earth
hit hard by global warming. 1.8 degrees (1 degree Cel- has undergone mass ex-
— Polluting land and water. sius), the report said, 99% of tinctions where much of
Every year, 300 to 400 mil- the world's coral will be in life on Earth blinked out,
lion tons of heavy metals, trouble. like the one that killed the
solvents and toxic sludge "Business as usual is a disas- dinosaurs. Watson said the
are dumped into the ter," Watson said. report was careful not to
world's waters. At least 680 species with call what's going on now as
— Allowing invasive species backbones have already a sixth big die-off because
to crowd out native plants gone extinct since 1600. current levels don't come
and animals. The number The report said 559 domes- close to the 75% level in
of invasive alien species ticated breeds of mammals past mass extinctions.q