United Nations: One Million Animal and Plant Species Face Extinction
According to the latest UN report, approximately one million plant and animal species worldwide are threatened with extinction. Germany’s environmental minister described this report, which comprises 1,800 pages, as a “wake-up call.”
The Global Biodiversity Assessment Platform, known as IPBES, released the results of an extensive, multi-year research on global problems in this field on Monday, April 16, 2019 in Paris.
This UN-affiliated body warned in its latest report that approximately one million plant and animal species worldwide are at risk of extinction, with many of them potentially “disappearing completely over the next few decades.”
According to the French news agency, researchers involved in the preparation of this report have called for fundamental changes, particularly in agricultural and livestock policies.
The 1,800-page report emphasizes that humans are destroying the conditions for their own survival by destroying forests and coral reefs and eliminating insects, endangering the survival of hundreds of thousands of plant and animal species.
One-Eighth of Plants and Animals at Risk
The total number of animal and plant species worldwide is estimated at approximately eight million. The latest UN report suggests that one-eighth of these species face serious extinction risk.
UN researchers have warned that changing approaches and policies in agriculture, consumption, and the environment is an “urgent necessity.”
Robert Watson, director-general of the IPBES organization, believes that species extinction is at least as dangerous as climate change. He warns that “we humans” are destroying the foundations of our own economy and livelihoods if current conditions continue.
According to Watson, the extinction of plant and animal species represents a serious threat to “food security, health, and quality of life worldwide.”
The report emphasizes that insects are more at risk of extinction than other species. The disappearance of many insect species will have a direct impact on nature and various aspects of human life and activities, including agricultural and horticultural activities.
80 Percent Decline in Insects in Europe
According to estimates, the number of insects in Europe has declined by approximately 80 percent over the past three decades. Joseph Zetzele, a biology expert at an environmental research center in Leipzig, Germany, and a member of the executive committee of the UN research team, says that with new findings, no one can claim “we didn’t know”:
UN researchers have identified humans as the primary cause of the biodiversity crisis, stating that agricultural activities, forest destruction, reckless mining exploitation, fishing, and hunting are the main causes of species extinction.
Biodiversity researchers, like climate change activists, have specifically called for sustainable and forward-looking agricultural development, the implementation of effective limits on fish catches, and the reform of subsidies for environmental conservation from public resources.
According to the French news agency, Sonya Schultz, Germany’s environmental minister, called the UN report a “wake-up call” and called for an international agreement on species protection similar to the Paris Agreement on climate change.
This German Social Democratic politician said that agricultural subsidies are an “important lever” for creating change in biodiversity. She expressed dissatisfaction that taxpayer money is currently being used to destroy the environment.
The UN report on biodiversity was prepared with the collaboration of approximately 150 researchers from 50 different countries worldwide, who spent three years preparing it. To prepare this report, numerous biodiversity studies in different countries around the world were reviewed and analyzed.
The extinction of plant and animal species knows no borders, and virtually all countries and regions of the world are affected by and involved in this process. Officials at Afghanistan’s national environmental protection authority reported last month that approximately 150 animal species in that country are at risk of extinction.
In local surveys, the extinction of more well-known animals and plants receives more attention. International research also focuses on other species that, while not familiar to the general public, are part of the biodiversity cycle, and their disappearance endangers other species as well.
Source: DW
