Good while it lasted – I: 6th mass extinction underway, courtesy humans

What is the News?

The sixth mass extinction is underway and the earth is losing species at an unprecedented rate. Hence, this marks the beginning of the Anthropocene Epoch.

Note: Anthropocene Epoch is an unofficial unit of geologic time, used to describe the most recent period in Earth’s history when the human activity started to have a significant impact on the planet’s climate and ecosystems. 

What is Mass Extinction?

A mass extinction is a short period of geological time in which a high percentage of biodiversity, or distinct species—bacteria, fungi, plants, mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, invertebrates—dies out.

The planet has experienced five previous mass extinction events. Experts now believe that humans are in the midst of sixth mass extinction.

What is causing the sixth mass extinction?

Unlike previous extinction events caused by natural phenomena, the sixth mass extinction is driven by human activity. That’s why this extinction is also referred to as the Anthropocene extinction.

What do various reports say about the rate of extinction of species?

Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services: It is the first such report by IPBES. Its assessment says that 1 million animal and plant species face extinction, and thousands of these would become extinct within decades. Since 1900, the number of native species in most of the land-based habitats has declined by 20%.

Assessment of the state of invertebrates: This study has found that Earth could already have lost between 7.5 and 13% of the two million known species on Earth—a staggering 150,000 to 260,000 species

Living Planet Report 2020: It was released by World Wildlife Fund(WWF). It says the Asia Pacific region lost 45% of its vertebrate population in four-and-half decades, while the average global loss is 68%.

– The report points out five major reasons behind the biodiversity loss across the planet: 1) Changes in land and sea use (habitat loss and degradation), 2) Overexploitation of species, 3) Invasive species and disease, 4) Pollution and 5) Climate change.

Source: This post is based on the article “Good while it lasted – I: 6th mass extinction underway, courtesy humans” published in Down To Earth on 11th April 2022.