Humans have pushed about 1 million varieties of plants and animals to the brink of extinction, according to a new United Nations report that arrives as congressional Republicans and the Trump administration try to diminish endangered species protections in the United States.
Many of the species identified in the report could be extinct within decades, the report says, amid a “mass extinction event” caused by humans putting more flora and fauna on the edge of eradication than ever before in their history. By transforming land and waterways, exploiting organisms, polluting, shifting species’ habitats and fueling climate change, humanity has eroded nature dramatically since the Industrial Revolution, according to the authors.
The report, written by 145 researchers from 50 countries in the last three years, is the most thorough piece of research to date on the collapse of biodiversity on Earth, which is unfolding at an “unprecedented rate,” and the repercussions of human actions.
View the complete May 6 article by Benjamin J. Hulac on The Roll Call website here.