A sixth mass extinction of the planet’s species is already underway — and worse than thought, says new research published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Calling the mass destruction of wildlife a “biological annihilation” the report uses unusually blunt language in a scientific journal to describe the “frightening assault on the foundations of human civilization.”
“The scientists found that a third of the thousands of species losing populations are not currently considered endangered and that up to 50% of all individual animals have been lost in recent decades,” says The Guardian. “Detailed data is available for land mammals, and almost half of these have lost 80% of their range in the last century.”
The researchers blamed the extinctions on a steep rise in human population and the global consumption of resources, especially by the rich. “The time to act is very short,” said Professor Gerardo Ceballos, at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, who lead the study. “It will, sadly, take a long time to humanely begin the population shrinkage required if civilisation is to long survive, but much could be done on the consumption front and with ‘band aids’ – wildlife reserves, diversity protection laws – in the meantime.”