Sixth mass extinction: the UN warns that a million species are in danger of extinction

A million species are at risk of extinction and the pace is accelerating, according to a UN report that calls for a "profound change" in society to repair the damage done to nature.

In this unprecedented text released on Monday, the United Nations Panel on Biodiversity (IPBES) poses a dark picture for the future of the human beingwhich depends on nature to breathe, drink, eat, warm and even heal.

"We are eroding the very foundations of our economies, livelihoods, food security, health and quality of life around the world," warned Robert Watson, president of IPBES.

Due to deforestation, intensive agriculture, overfishing, rampant urbanization, mining, 75% of the Earth's environment is "seriously impaired" by human activity , while 66% of sailors are also affected.

The result: one million animal and plant species out of the estimated 8 million on Earth are threatened with extinction and many could disappear "in the coming decades".

A conclusion in line with what many scientists have been describing for years: the beginning of the sixth "mbad extinction" – a term not mentioned in the report – and the first one for which man is responsible.

But it would also be "the first could slow down if we act decisively now", according to Mark Tercek, president of the NGO Nature Conservancy.

"It's not too late to take action, but you have to start now," said Watson, for whom the primary goal is to slow down the "drivers" of biodiversity loss that threaten at least as much as possible. man as climate change.

The report, in which 450 experts worked for three years, identifies the five main leaders of this order: land use (agriculture, deforestation), direct exploitation of resources (fishing, hunting), climate change, pollution and invasive species.

Climate change could increase at this scale, exacerbating other factors, although some actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions may have direct benefits to nature.

First objective: the agrifood system. Feeding 10 billion people in 2050 in a "sustainable" way implies a transformation of agricultural production (agroecology, better management of water) but also consumption habits (food, waste), according to the report.

"We welcome this call for a change of diet, towards a diet based more on plant-based foods in order to reduce the consumption of meat and dairy products, whose negative impacts on Biodiversity, climate change and human health are well known, "said Eric Darier of Greenpeace.

However, in the final text of the IPBES, there is no direct appeal to eat less meat, which probably indicates that some producing countries have opposed this mention.

Member States of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) will meet in China in 2020 and environmentalists expect that they will adopt an ambitious framework of action until the end of the year. in 2050 to preserve the planet.

Among the solutions envisaged by IPBES to improve the "sustainability" of the economic system, it should be emphasized the establishment of "effective" fishing quotas in order to get out of the dogma of growth.

"The goal should be quality of life, not economic growth", says AFP one of the main authors, Eduardo Brundizio.

Since man depends on nature, is he also doomed to disappear? "Surely not" and even less in the short term, answers one of the authors, Josef Settele. "But we do not just want to survive, it's the main position of this report," according to Brundizio.

The quality of life could be further degraded for the poorest and for indigenous peoples who are very dependent on nature.