One Million Species Face Extinction, UN Report Says, And Humans Will Suffer as a Result

Muhammad Sawani

ENVA-015 Principles of Ecology

Friday, October 4 2019

Dr. Kolozsvary

               This article raises the warning of one million species facing extinction due to a change in the biological environment, according to a UN report. The landmark report was lead by seven lead co-authors from different universities across the world. The research goes further to link the loss of species to the effect it has on human activity. This decline in biodiversity is eroding the foundations of our economies, livelihoods, food security, health, and quality of life world wide” according to the panels chairman, British Chemist, Robert Watson. The ocean temperatures are rising at 2 Celsius-above pre-industrial times- due to human-caused climate change because of over fishing, widespread pesticides, pollution, etc. The human population has tripled since the 1950s and is expected to be 9 trillion by mid-century. This exponential increase results in immense pressure on natural resources. “More than a third of the land surface and nearly seventy-five percent of freshwater are now devoted to crop or livestock production,” according to the report. 

             This article directly relates to our course as it discusses the effects on the environment caused by humans. We can see positive feedback in the link between human overpopulation and the decline in the ecological environment. As the population increases, more resources are used by humans which results in the exploitation of the natural environment causing it to decline. It also relates to the IPAT model discussed in class. The number of people (P), higher affluence (A) and increased environmental effects of technology (T) are causing higher environmental impact. People value short term welfare (like profits from over fishing) more than the long term social cost of this exploitation. As the article suggests 40% of known species like bees, flies, etc are in danger of being extinct, it can lead to the pyramid of energy flow being disrupted that can further cause oversupply or shortage of different organisms in the energy flow chain. 

            I believe this article provides factual evidence on the course we are studying and it shows the current data on the ecological effects. I was surprised by the number of comments (more than 3000) below the article as it shows that people are showing concern about the ecological environment as they may have experienced the effects of the disruption of the ecological environment. People underestimate the term extinction and the fact that studies can support this issue is spectacular. However, I was shocked that I didn’t hear about this information on any major news sources like social media, television, etc. I guess the big news corporations only provide information that includes gossip and catches eyeballs rather than something to create awareness in the society. The decrease of bio cultural diversity will contribute to the eroding of the foundation species. Humans are playing a vital role in this and in the environment which is leading to climate change. 

Reference:

Fears, Darryl. “One Million Species Face Extinction, UN Report Says, And Humans Will Suffer as a Result.” The Washington Post, WR Company, 7 May 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2019/05/06/one-million-species-face-extinction-un-panel-says-humans-will-suffer-result/

Image Credits: 

Justin Sullivan, Getty Images