1 million animal, plant species threatened with extinction

ANKARA: About one million out of the eight million animals and plant species in the world are threatened with extinction, mostly due to human activities, according to a report on biodiversity and ecosystem services.

On Dec 20, 2013, at its 68th session, the UN General Assembly proclaimed March 3 – the day of signature of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora in 1973 – as UN World Wildlife Day to celebrate and raise awareness of the world’s wild animals and plants.

The World Wildlife Day will be celebrated this year under the theme Forests and Livelihoods: Sustaining People and Planet, as a way to highlight the central role of forests, forest species, and ecosystems services in sustaining the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people globally and particularly of Indigenous and local communities with historical ties to forested and forestadjacent areas.

According to the information compiled by the Anadolu Agency correspondent from the

Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services 2019 report, nearly one million animal and plant species are threatened with extinction, most of them within ten years.

According to the report, the well-being of ecosystems, which humans and all other species depend on, is deteriorating faster than ever.

It is predicted that this will have serious effects on people all over the world.

The average abundance of native species has dropped by at least 20 per cent in settled habitats since 1900, the report said.

More than 40 per cent of amphibian species, around 33 per cent of reef-forming corals, and more than a third of all marine mammals are threatened nowadays.

While clear data on insects was not available, the available data indicated an estimated 10 per cent of insect species are also endangered.

At least 680 vertebrate species have gone extinct since the 16th century, according to the report.

While there are nearly eight million animal and plant species globally, factors such as climate change, consumer preferences, urbanisation, change in demography, land-use changes, pollution, over-harvests and invasive species spread negatively affect biodiversity.

The report also revealed that human actions had significantly altered three-quarters of the settled habitant and about 66 per cent of the marine habitant.

The number of invasive foreign species per country has climbed by about 70 per cent in 21 countries since 1970.

Almost half – 47 per cent – of land-dwelling flightless mammals and 23 per cent of birds that may already have been adversely affected by climate change are threatened, the report said.

Meanwhile, 25 per cent of terrestrial freshwater and marine vertebrates, invertebrates and plant groups are also threatened with extinction.

On the other hand, the global terrestrial habitat integrity, caused by habitat loss and disruption, has also dropped by 30 per cent.