UNITED NATIONS -- The UN has released a report that human activity is the primary reason to blame for the destruction of the planet. Not only is it causing the increase in various forms of pollution, but it is also causing the obliteration of wildlife. If not stopped, it could lead to the ultimate downfall of humanity and no one else is to be blamed.
According to the report, several factors are involved in such destruction. The list includes the lost of natural habitat due to the expansion of human communities, continuous wrongful practice of waste disposal that caused several forms of pollution and the death of small species that are vital in the survival of the ecosystem at large. The report pertains to this time as the "era of environmental breakdown" and environmentalists call for immediate action.
The report, according to the UN, won;t be released until the 6th of May this year. The report contains facts about how humanity and its practices has changed the environment. It says that the human activity has altered the marine environment by as much as 40%, 50% on the inland waterways and as huge as three quarters of the land on Earth.
"Subsidies to fisheries, livestock raising, mining, forestry, and industrial agriculture all encourage the production of waste materials that harm the environment. The inefficiencies in the process include over consumption," as stated in the UN report. It also states that more than half a million unique species are threatened to extinction due to these practices and the growing presence of pollution in their natural habitats. Within decades, the world could lose many important species that keep the balance in the ecosystem.
The pace of extinction has been rapidly increasing that the report says it is "ten times faster than it ever was." On the average, over the last 10 million years, the world has lost unique species humans may not even be aware of existed.
Robert Watson, the chairman of the UN Intergovernmental Science Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), said in a statement, "We need to recognise that the loss of nature and the growing problem in climate change both warrant our attention. It is not just for the environment, but it affects the human life all over the world considering both economic and development issues.
"The way we produce the food and energy that we need undermines the role that nature plays in all this," Watson added. "If we work on the protection of these natural resources, we would be able to define the challenges that may come in the decades ahead."
However, in order to save the environment, governments across the world must put policies, actions and efforts at a higher level. The plan will only succeed if everyone would do their share.
