Khaleej Times warns of disappearance of vertebrates

Populations of birds, fish, mammals, amphibians and reptiles have declined by 68% since 1970. Policymakers must step up efforts to save biodiversity before it is too late.

The destruction of animal species continues to the beat of a metronome. No matter how many alarming reports pile up or how scientists warn of catastrophic long-term effects, the march to mass extinction seems inevitable. The biannual study published by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) on Thursday 10 September once again sounded the alarm about the deteriorating situation of vertebrates. Since 1970, the number of birds, fish, mammals, amphibians and reptiles has fallen by 68% worldwide. The severity of this dramatic phenomenon is accelerating, with WWF recording a 58% decline in numbers in 2016. Vertebrates.

And Earth hasn’t even experienced its first mass extinction yet. Paleontology lists five of them, the most exciting of which occurred 66 million years ago, when the dinosaurs and three-quarters of all living species disappeared. The difference with the current period is that the worst is preventable. We know who is responsible – people – and the specific causes of the devastation are well-defined.

The expansion of agricultural or built-up areas leads to the degradation and fragmentation of natural habitats for many species. Overexploitation of forests and oceans leads to the extinction of the most vulnerable species. In addition to this, waste and pesticides pollute ecosystems, while increased trade encourages the spread of invasive species, not to mention the effects of global warming.

In past decades, public information has focused on animals that have become endangered, from rhinos to whales to orangutans. But today, it is necessary to raise awareness that extinction has become widespread and affects common species on all continents. This observation should encourage people to think about ecosystems as a whole, and not just protect one or another type of animal. The phenomenon certainly affects some regions more, such as subtropical America or Africa, and less in Europe. However, this distribution of damage seems misleading. Even in other parts of the world, developed countries are directly responsible for animal extinctions, as they are the main consumers of products linked to deforestation, while shipping some of their waste to the poorest countries.

The advantage of human responsibility for biodiversity destruction is that humans have the ability to at least partially repair what they have destroyed. Solutions include expanding protected areas, implementing support policies to compensate for the economic losses caused by abandoning practices that are harmful to biodiversity, and even reforming public assistance systems to stop supporting the most harmful practices in the first place.

The relative ineffectiveness of the policies implemented so far should not discourage policymakers, but rather encourage them to accelerate their efforts before reaching the point of no return, which scientists estimate will take two to three decades. The concept of sustainability has been reduced to a physical resource. Now is the time to give it the dimension of heritage, because life on Earth is at risk.