Editorial & Analyses

    Rapidly Dwindling Wildlife Populations

    author-img
    Sunil Aswal
    March16/ 2023
    Last Updated:

    Wildlife

    Vijay Garg

    A few months ago, the World Wildlife Fund's 'Living Planet Report 2022' revealed that the world's wildlife population has decreased by sixty-nine percent in the last fifty years. These include mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, fishes, etc. According to this report published every two years, although the population of wildlife is decreasing rapidly all over the world, but since 1970, the wildlife population in Latin America and the Caribbean has declined by about forty-nine percent.While there has been a decline of 66 percent in Africa and 55 percent in Asia. Seventy-one percent reduction in the number of sharks and 'rays' Due to an eighteen-fold increase in fishing, sharks and rays have declined by seventy-one percent, while freshwater species have experienced the largest decline of eighty-three percent of any species group. The biggest downfall. In this report of WWF, it has been told that deforestation, emergence of invasive species, pollution, climate crisis and variousNeither diseases are the main reason for this. According to WWF Director General Marco Lambertini, we are facing a double emergency of human-induced climate crisis and biodiversity loss, which could prove to be a threat to present and future generations. Polluted environment and changing mood of nature is a big reason Actually, due to the exploitation of natural resources on a large scale, industrialization, urbanization, hunting, cutting of trees, etc., major changes are taking place in the earth. Due to the polluted environment and the changing mood of the nature, the worldThere is a threat to the existence of many species of animals and plants all over the world. All species of flora and fauna together provide the necessary ecosystem and since wild animals are also our friends, it is very important to conserve them. Earlier, in the year 2021 report of IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), it has been told that thousands of species of wildlife and vegetation around the world are in danger and they are likely to disappear from the earth in the coming times.There may be an unexpected increase in the number of After assessing about 1.35 lakh species worldwide, IUCN had included 37,400 of these species in the 'Red List' considering them on the verge of extinction. More than one million species threatened worldwide According to this report, 900 species have become extinct and more than 37,000 are in danger of extinction. If the crisis on biodiversity continues to loom like this, then more than one million species in the world will be in danger or at risk of extinction.Will be on the verge The existence of the world's heaviest bird 'Elephant Bird' has now ended from the earth. Similarly, the species of hairy rhinoceros found in Asia and Europe has also become history. The creature named 'Stellar sea cow' of Dugong species, which completed its life cycle of up to seventy years in the sea, has also become extinct. Now the existence of certain species of plants is also under threat. In another research, this shocking fact has come out that ninety-seven percent of the earth's ecological health has deteriorated and humanDue to staying away from this intervention and the role of the local tribal people there, only three percent of the area has remained ecologically safe. In a study published in an environmental science journal titled 'Frontiers in Forest and Global Change', researchers say that human interference has caused so much devastation in the Earth's biodiversity areas that only three per cent of the Earth's land is completely protected from it. Have got. Kimberly Komatsu, a researcher at the UK-based Smithsonian Environmental Research CenterAccording to the study, only 2.7 percent of the world's biodiversity is left untouched, which is exactly the same as it was five hundred years ago. According to the researchers, only eleven percent of the countries that have areas with unaffected biodiversity under their borders have been declared protected areas and the respective governments are not paying attention to it. Most of the areas with unaffected biodiversity are in the Northern Hemisphere, where human presence has been low, but compared to other regions, these biodiversityand were not rich in variety. Regarding the crisis looming over the existence of wildlife on the earth, researchers say that most of the species have become extinct due to human hunting, while some other reasons include the attack of other animals and diseases. However, on the basis of some satellite images, researchers believe that the biodiversity of twenty percent of the earth can be saved, where only five or fewer large animals have disappeared, but for this some areas untouched by human influence have to be created. habitat enhancement of specieswhich will benefit the ecosystem. After analyzing data on recent species extinctions due to climate change, their movements, and various species currently present on Earth, researchers at the University of Arizona in the US have estimated the number of plants and animals in the world over the next fifty years. One-third of animal species will become extinct. The researchers, after studying 538 species from 581 locations around the world for 10 consecutive years, found that 53Out of 8 species, 44 percent of the species have become extinct. After studying various seasonal factors in this study, researchers say that if the heat continues to increase like this, then by 2070 many species will be extinct around the world. According to the 'World Wildlife Crime Report 2020', wildlife trafficking is the biggest threat to the world's ecosystem. According to this report, mammals are the most trafficked in the world, followed by 21.3 of reptiles, 8.5 of birds and 8.5 of trees and plants.14.3 percent of it is smuggled. A study evaluating human impacts on marine species found that about 57 percent of marine species are at risk of extinction due to human activities. The researchers made this conclusion through an assessment of species threatened by human activities from 2003 to 2013, based on data from the IUCN's 'Red List' of 1,271 threatened marine species. Researchers believe that human impact on marine biodiversity is increasing and that fishing pressure is increasing.Water and increasing acidification in the ocean are the reasons due to which the danger of extinction is hovering over the sea creatures. However, environmental scientists say that due to encroachment in forests, erosion, increasing pollution and unnecessary activities in the name of tourism, biodiversity is facing a crisis all over the world. This is a clear sign of deteriorating environmental balance and if concrete steps are not taken to improve it soon, then a big loss may have to be incurred in the coming times. Scientists believe that the degradation of biodiversity will have a direct impact in the future.yields, food production, etc., which will badly affect the entire ecosystem.

    —The Hawk Features