Up to a million species risk extinction due to human activity, warns draft U.N. report

[Judi Lynn]

One of six Mexican wolves born recently at the Endangered Wolf Center in Eureka, Missouri, is seen on April 18 after it was brought to Phoenix for relocation into the wild, where it will be raised by foster parents. The species, which once numbered in the hundreds of thousands, was nearly extinct before re-population efforts began in the 1970s. About 150 now live in the wild in the Southwest. | AP

Up to a million species risk extinction due to human activity, warns draft U.N. report
AFP-JIJI

APR 26, 2019

PARIS - Up to 1 million species face extinction due to human influence, according to a draft U.N. report obtained by AFP that painstakingly catalogues how humanity has undermined the natural resources upon which its very survival depends.

The accelerating loss of clean air, drinkable water, carbon dioxide-absorbing forests, pollinating insects, protein-rich fish and storm-blocking mangroves — to name but a few of the dwindling services rendered by nature — poses no less of a threat than climate change, says the report, set to be unveiled May 6.

Indeed, biodiversity loss and global warming are closely linked, according to the 44-page Summary for Policy Makers, which distills a 1,800-page U.N. assessment of scientific literature on the state of nature.

Delegates from 130 nations meeting in Paris from April 29 will vet the executive summary line-by-line. Wording may change, but figures lifted from the underlying report cannot be altered.

More:
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/04/26/world/science-health-world/million-species-risk-extinction-due-human-activity-warns-draft-u-n-report/#.XMKeCuhKjIU

[IndyOp]

1. Thank you Judi (nt)