An alarming 2019 report by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services said that one million species of plants and animals worldwide are at risk of extinction.
The organization said the degradation of nature is occurring at a rate “unprecedented in human history,” with invasive species, global warming and pollution all said to be responsible for this rapid deterioration of the natural world, among other factors.
To monitor the threat more closely, Vox's Benjy Jones went to Hawaii, which he noted has been dubbed the “extinction capital of the world.”
What is happening?
Human actions are accelerating the threat to habitats and ecosystems around the world.
Land use for agriculture, pollution from dirty fuels, and rising ocean temperatures and water levels are among the reasons behind this alarming decline in species numbers.
Jones notes that Hawaii was once an island group where “organisms evolved in isolation,” but settlers brought with them foreign plants and animals that native species struggled to cope with.
In 2023, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removed 21 species from the endangered species list due to extinction. Among them were eight species of Hawaiian birds, including the pulu, the Molokai creeper, and the bridled white-eyed.
Of the 1,670 species and subspecies listed on the organization's Endangered Species Act, Vox's analysis found that nearly a third are found in Hawaii.
Jones visited a laboratory in Hawaii working to halt the decline of snail species. According to the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources, about 60% of Hawaii's 750 snail species are extinct.
Jones spoke to David Sicho, a scientist at a lab run by the Snail Extinction Prevention Program in Hawaii, who said Achatinella fulgens snails are “one of the rarest animals on Earth.”
It paints a bleak picture for Hawaii, which also had to contend with devastating wildfires in 2023 that were linked to the effects of global warming.
Why this concern?
It's not just Hawaii where extinction is a threat. It is simply a microcosm of the impact that human activities have had on the natural world in the past two centuries.
If we continue to see patterns like these around the world, with species die-offs disrupting the natural balance and creating increasing challenges within ecosystems, the indirect impacts on humans in terms of food supplies, air quality, and the impact of invasive species could be serious. be disastrous.
How can we help?
It may seem overwhelming, and our ability to reverse the decline of plant and animal life is impossible to do alone, but small lifestyle changes can make a big difference.
Whether it's reducing the pollution we produce through travel, energy use, meat and dairy consumption, single-use plastics, or being more conscious about how we can help encourage biodiversity in our green spaces, hope is not lost. .
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