Many experts think a so-called 'mass extinction event' -- only the sixth in the last half-billion years -- is already under way.
Vultures play an important role in the ecosystem, and if not managed properly, they may face extinction. Picture: South Coast Herald.
Indeed, biodiversity loss and global warming are closely linked, according to the 44-page Summary for Policy Makers, which distills a 1,800-page UN assessment of scientific literature on the state of Nature. Deforestation and agriculture, including livestock production, account for about a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions, and have wreaked havoc on natural ecosystems as well.The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services report warns of “an imminent rapid acceleration in the global rate of species extinction.”
The most recent saw the end of the Cretaceous period some 66 million years ago, when a 10-kilometre-wide asteroid strike wiped out most lifeforms. The direct causes of species loss, in order of importance, are shrinking habitat and land-use change, hunting for food or illicit trade in body parts, climate change, pollution, and alien species such as rats, mosquitoes and snakes that hitch rides on ships or planes, the report finds.
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