AN EXTINCTION EPIDEMIC
A huge proportion of the world’s species are threatened with extinction
ANIMAL species face being wiped out at an alarming rate, according to a new report from the World Wildlife Fund.
The report looked at a sample of 16,700 populations from 4,005 species of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians.
It found an average population decline of 60 per cent across those species in just 40 years.
The survey suggested the earth has lost about half of its shallow water corals in the past 30 years, and a fifth of the Amazon has disappeared in the past 50 years.
A paper in the journal Nature looked at the most prevalent threats facing more than 8,500 species.
Of these, the key drivers of the decline of biodiversity remain overexploitation and agriculture.
Of all the amphibian, reptile, bird and mammal species that been made extinct since the year 1500, 75 per cent were harmed by overexploitation, agricultural activity, or both.
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature has so far studied 93,500 species groups and found that 26,000 are at risk of extinction.
Of those studied, 41 per cent of amphibians are now at risk of extinction, along with by 34 per cent of conifers and 33 per cent of reef corals.
Nearly a third of sharks and rays (31 per cent), and a more than a quarter of crustaceans studied so far are also endangered.
The paper estimated that 25 per cent of mammals of the species studes including the polar bear - are at risk of extinction.
The WWF report found that only a quarter of all land on earth is substantively free from the impact of human activities.
Marco Lambertini, director of WWF, said: “Science has never been clearer about the consequences of our impact.
“There has never been more awareness – nor such rapidly increasing investment in finding solutions.
“Today, we have the knowledge and means to redefine our relationship with the planet. There is no excuse for inaction. We can no longer ignore the warning signs; doing so would be at our own peril. What we need now is the will to act – and act quickly.”
The current rate of species extinction is up to 1,000 times greater than before human pressure became a prominent factor in the Earth’s history.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature says that more than 26,000 species are currently threatened with extinction, of which 8,400 are mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fishes.
Animals that have been made extinct over the years include the dodo, the passenger pigeon, and - as recently as 2011 - the west African black rhinoceros.