Up to one million species face extinction due to human influence, according to a draft UN report obtained by AFP that painstakingly catalogues how humanity has undermined the natural resources upon which its very survival depends.
“We need to recognise that climate change and loss of Nature are equally important, not just for the environment, but as development and economic issues as well,” Robert Watson, chair of the UN-mandated body that compiled the report, told AFP, without divulging its findings. “Half-a-million to a million species are projected to be threatened with extinction, many within decades.”
A quarter of catalogued animal and plant species are already being crowded, eaten or poisoned out of existence. Once seen as primarily a future threat to animal and plant life, the disruptive impact of global warming has accelerated.