The sixth mass extinction on Earth threatens more than half a million species – 25/04/2019

How to stop the destruction of nature? Governments and scientists will meet next week in Paris for alert on the state of the planet's ecosystems, beaten by the action of the man.

This overall badessment is the first for almost 15 years150 experts from 50 countries worked for three years, collecting thousands of biodiversity studies.

Its 1,800-page report will be submitted on Monday to the 130 Member States of the Intergovernmental Science and Standards Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), which will be the subject of an in-depth debate.

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"The global environmental legacy – the land, the oceans, the atmosphere and the biosphere – on which humanity depends is changed to an unprecedented level, with cascading impacts on local and regional ecosystems, "says the draft summary of the report, which could be modified, according to the AFP agency.

Drinking water, air, pollinating insects, CO2-absorbing forests … the observation of these resources is as alarming as the latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), who had pointed out last year Growing gap between greenhouse gas emissions and the goal of limiting climate change.

According to the text, the two phenomena – loss of biodiversity and global warming – are exacerbated by the same factors, in particular agricultural practices and deforestation, responsible for about a quarter of CO2 emissions.

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At the same time, the exploitation of land and resources (fishing, hunting) are the main causes of biodiversity loss, followed by climate change, pollution and invasive species.

The result is "a rapid and imminent acceleration of the extinction level of the species", according to the project. Of the estimated 8 million species on the planet (including 5.5 million insects), "between half a million and one million will be in danger of extinction, many of them in the coming decades "says the letter.

These projections correspond to the warnings of many scientists who believe that The earth begins the "6th mbad extinction".

However, several industry sources have regretted that the UN project is not so clear, not mentioning this mbadive extinction.

"There is no doubt that we are moving towards the sixth mbad extinction, and the first caused by the man"IPBES President Robert Watson told AFP:" But this is not something that the public can easily see. "

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For there to be an awareness, "we must say that we are losing insects, forests, charismatic species". As well "governments and the private sector must start taking biodiversity seriously, as well as the warming, "insisted this scientist.

A year ahead of the planned meeting in China of the member states of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15), many experts expect the IPBES report to be a crucial step towards major agreement like the one signed in Paris in 2015 against climate change, is that "high level objectives" are set.

"If we want a sustainable planet in 2050, we must have a very aggressive target by 2030," said Rebecca Shaw, chief scientist of the NGO. "As for the weather, we have to change course in the next 10 years."

However, since the "remedies" against global warming related to changes in the production and consumption system are already causing big resistances, experts wonder what will happen to biodiversity …

"It will be even more difficult because people are less aware of the problems of biodiversity," said Jean-François Silvain, president of the French Foundation for Research on Biodiversity. "You must be lucid," he concluded.

Source: AFP

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