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The planet’s sixth mass extinction is underway, courtesy humans. Report after report has attested to this fact. This marks the beginning of the Anthropocene Epoch.
As we enter 2023, many more species are expected to go extinct as a result of human activities. Go through the following selection of Down To Earth’s articles on what the ‘Sixth Mass Extinction’ is all about:
A new study led by the University of Hawaii in January this year claimed that Earth is witnessing its sixth mass extinction event.
The Living Planet Report by World Wide Fund for Nature released in October this year said there has been a 69 per cent decline in the wildlife populations of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish, across the globe in the last 50 years.
Scientists have also warned of an imminent mass annihilation of marine species similar to one 250 million years ago that wiped out most lives in oceans
Evolution and extinction are intimately linked to each other. But never before has such a rapid change in biodiversity been witnessed.
Studies show that loss of species is taking place across all ecosystems — from land to oceans, from sea surface to the yet-to-be-fully-explored seafloors, from forests to desert, and from swamps to rivers. This proves that a mass extinction event is taking place.
Humans have annihilated 83 per cent of all wild mammals and half of all plants, according to a census of the biomass on Earth.
The world may miss the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) targets by a wide margin if human civilisation does not pull up its socks and promptly acts to protect the natural order.