1 Out of 4 (Extinction)
The Art
The Sketch
What’s Alarming
On May 6, 2019 the UN Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) released a summary of a landmark new report: “The overwhelming evidence of the IPBES Global Assessment, from a wide range of different fields of knowledge, presents an ominous picture,” said IPBES Chair, Sir Robert Watson. “The health of ecosystems on which we and all other species depend is deteriorating more rapidly than ever. We are eroding the very foundations of our economies, livelihoods, food security, health and quality of life worldwide.” The report concludes that “…up to 1 million species are threatened with extinction, many within decades.” Climate change, currently identified as the third most important driver of these changes in nature, is predicted, in some cases, to surpass the impact of other key drivers, such as land and sea use.
A September 2020 report by the World Wildlife Fund found that populations of all species plunged an average of 68% from 1970 through 2016.
According to the Nature Conservancy, one fourth of the Earth's species could be headed for extinction by 2050 due to climate change. The "x's" in the "tic tac toe" game represent these species at risk of being crossed off the planet. Climate change is no game.
