Turning tide in favour of Earth’s life support systems
Life has existed on Earth for roughly 3.7 billion years. During that time, we know of five mass extinction events – dramatic episodes when many, if not most, life forms have vanished in a geological flash of the eye.
Once gone, never to come back – extinction is forever.
The most recent of these was the fifth mass extinction that claimed the dinosaurs and many other species about 66 million years ago.
Recent articles in the Ecologist by respected scientists Bill Laurence and Paul Ehrlich and journalist Alexandra SimonLewis of WIRED confirm that there is now undeniable growing scientific evidence that we are on the brink of a sixth mass extinction event.
This event, unlike all previous extinction events, is driven largely by the increasing impact of humanity on this Earth.
These authors claim that the beginning of this extinction event is mainly focused on wildlife and invertebrates (animals without backbones), making up about 99% of all animal species, most of which are insects. Invertebrates include crabs, snails, worms, corals, as well as insects such as bees, beetles and flies.
These species fill many vital roles in ecosystems (and our agriculture industry) as pollinators, recyclers of nutrients, scavengers and food for others.
The current rate of extinction of these species is at least 1,000 times higher than at any time in human history.
Simon Lewis argues that the sixth great extinction is playing out in other ways too, especially in the widespread destruction of millions of animal and plant populations.
Just as species can go extinct, so can their individual populations.
This locally can affect humans through agriculture production, tourism and other ecological services like water.
Let me pause here and say that environmental disasters are on the increase due to climate change and biodiversity loss. As an example, the recent war in Syria, which has caused great loss of human life and mass migration of people around the Middle East and to Europe, with all the strife and displacement that has gone with it, started as a result of severe drought and repeated crop failures.
Three-quarters of the world’s largest carnivores, including big cats, bears, otters and wolves, are declining in number. These species on average have lost at least 50% of their natural habitat:
● There were 400,000 lion in the wild in 1950. Today there are less than 25,000;
● Giraffe numbers have dropped over the past 30 years by 40% from 157,000 to 97,500;
● Ancient trees which survived for over thousands of years, such as baobabs and Lebanese cedars (known as the tree of god), are now dying off.
Most of us can identify with the rhino – a remnant of the dinosaur era, a charismatic and flagship species that acts as a symbol or icon of modern-day conservation efforts.
In many of our lifetimes, two subspecies of rhino (western black and northern white) have already become extinct and as South Africans we are now custodians of more than 80% of what is left of this rhino in the world.
Can one of our fastest economic growth industries in Southern Africa – eco and nature-based tourism – survive without the rhino and lion in the wild?
Mass extinctions by definition involve a dramatic loss of biodiversity.
It is commonly accepted that by the year 2050 (32 years’ time), more than 20% of the species that currently inhabits the earth (2,600,000 separate species), will either be extinct or on the brink of extinction.
This is due in part to the perfect storm of population growth, unsustainable resource utilisation and the human impact on climate change.
Another way of seeing this is that our life support system, which is everything that makes up our living eco system, is going to be 20% depleted.
Can we survive as a human species in the same way that we are now, with 20% less; and what will this mean for our everyday living and our dependency on the ecological services of nature for survival?
Some will say that we as humans will find solutions to our problems through technology and innovation.
While this does have an element of truth to it, what about the millions of other species we share this planet with? Can artificial intelligence; 3D printing; nano technology and virtual reality recreate eco systems?
The sixth mass extinction is already here and the window for effective action is very short. Many experts, such as Bill Laurence and Paul Ehrlich, feel we have two or three decades at most. I am not here to spell out doom and gloom, far from it – but what we are all saying is that life on Earth is ultimately a zero-sum game.
Humans cannot keep growing in numbers and consuming ever more land, water and natural resources and expect all to be well.
Clearly the answers to these questions cannot come from one discipline or sector alone, but are reliant on multi-sectoral collaboration and individuals; businesses and communities making a meaningful commitment to sustainable living.
We can do something about this by keeping this issue relevant and in the public domain.
There is hope. We can stop the sixth mass extinction if we protect about 50% of what is left of each the 846 eco regions.
That means finding leaders and organisations around the world willing to align existing efforts in their region.
Nature Needs Half is an example of international coalitions and growing global movements of scientists, conservationists, nonprofits, and public officials defending nature at the scale she needs to continue to function for the benefit of all life.
As Wilderness Foundation Global, a founding member of this movement, we’ve got a global ground game in place that will protect 50% of the planet by 2050, turning the tide in favour of Earth’s life support systems and transforming society’s relationship with nature, one eco region and country at a time.
– Dr Andrew Muir, Wilderness Foundation Africa CEO