The Biodiversity Crisis

Scientists believe that we are currently living through the planet’s sixth global extinction event since life began some 3.7 billion years ago. However, unlike previous events driven by meteors or Ice Ages, this mass devastation is caused entirely by human activity.

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The Biodiversity Crisis explained

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What is biodiversity?

Biodiversity refers to the vast variety of life on Earth, including all species, from animals and plants to the ecosystems they inhabit. This diversity is crucial as it provides essential services like clean air, water, and food, ensuring the health and survival of all living communities, including us, humans.

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Our planet’s abundance of life interacts with one another in special and unique ways. From the smallest insect to the largest mammal, every single species plays a key role in maintaining biodiversity around the world.

Signs of strong biodiversity
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Strong ecosystem
A large variety of species within an ecosystem
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Endemic species
Species that are exclusive to a particular geographic region
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Diverse gene pool
High genetic diversity within individual species

But biodiversity is in severe crisis

Human activities—overfishing, deforestation, pollution — have lead to a severe crisis. The ongoing loss of biodiversity threatens the delicate balance that sustains life on our planet. Here’s what we know:

1,000,000
Plant and animal species are threatened with extinction.
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We are losing around 135 plants, animals and insect species every day to deforestation.
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In the past 12 years alone, 467 species have been declared extinct.
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Almost half (44%) of the world’s habitable land is used for agriculture and raising livestock.
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Wildlife populations have plummeted by 69% since 1970.
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100,000 animals die annually from ocean plastic entanglement.

What are the biggest threats to biodiversity?

When it comes down to it, the biggest threats to biodiversity are habitat loss, invasive species, our changing climate, and pollution.

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Habitat loss
37% of the world’s land is used for agriculture. Industrial agriculture has led to millions of animals, insects, and plant species to become displaced or extinct.
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Species overexploitation
Overharvesting species depletes populations faster than they can recover, pushing some toward extinction and harming ecosystems.
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Invasive species
Species that don’t belong to an ecosystem can overwhelm and wipe out populations, destroy acres of forest, and can become tricky to remove.
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Pollution
At least 14 million tons of plastic end up in the ocean every year, and it’s estimated by 2050, there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish.
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Climate change
It’s no secret that the planet is warming up. As temperatures rise, spring arrives earlier, which is changing the life cycles of many plants and animals.

What can we do?

On a global scale, efforts are underway to address the biodiversity crisis. The 2022 UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15) concluded with a landmark agreement consisting of 23 points aimed at protecting global biodiversity by 2030.

The EU also launched its landmark Nature Restoration law in 2024 which sets binding targets to restore the continent's degraded ecosystems. Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has fallen to its lowest rate since 2018 under the new government. However, a whole lot will need to be done to make a big enough impact to halt the mass extinction.

Image of the 2022 UN Biodiversity Conference.

What can YOU do?

On a personal level, tackling such a huge global crisis might feel pretty impossible—but that’s where Planet Wild can help.

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We are a global community of individuals who care deeply about the planet, and want to find actionable ways to tackle the biodiversity crisis. When you become a Planet Wild member, your contribution will directly fund innovative and exciting grassroots projects all over the world, so you can make a difference from anywhere. Every month, we document our missions so you can see exactly how your money is being spent.

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