Sir David Attenborough Delivers Stark Warning In BBC Doc 'Extinction: The Facts'

Mashable - Sam Haysom

At 94 years old and with over 60 years of wildlife documentary-making under his belt, Sir David Attenborough is well-placed to share his thoughts about the future of our planet.

And on Sunday, in the new BBC documentary Extinction: The Facts, the legendary presenter had a warning for all humans — that means you — about the creatures we share the Earth with.

"Over the course of my life, I've encountered some of the world's most remarkable species of animals," Attenborough says at the start of the hour-long film.

"Only now do I realise just how lucky I've been. Many of these wonders seem set to disappear forever. We're facing a crisis, and one that has consequences for us all. It threatens our ability to feed ourselves, to control our climate — it even puts us at greater risk of pandemic diseases such as COVID-19."

"Many of these wonders seem set to disappear forever."

With the help of a number of academics and experts, Attenborough goes on to explain that extinction is now happening much faster than it used to — with 570 plant species and 700 animal species disappearing since the year 1500. "Studies suggest that extinction is now happening a hundred times faster than the natural evolutionary rate," Attenborough says. "And it's accelerating."

A follow-up to Attenborough's 2019 explainer documentary, Climate Change: The Facts, Extinction: The Facts delves into some of the main causes of extinction and disastrous biodiversity loss today, including habitat destruction (either caused by land use or human-induced climate change or both), unsustainable agricultural and fishing practices, and poaching.

The documentary examines a number of species across the world that are at risk, from the two remaining northern white rhinos in Kenya's Ol Pejeta Conservancy to the 25 percent of assessed plant species currently at risk of disappearing forever.

One of the two remaining northern white rhinos. Image: BBC / Charlotte Lathane

Although the documentary is a heavy and often bleak watch, it does end with a message of hope — albeit one with clear responsibility bestowed upon humans.

"One thing we do know, is that if nature is given the chance, it can bounce back," concludes Attenborough, giving one example using archive footage of one of his old documentaries.

"40 years ago, I had one of the most memorable experiences of my life. I was in the Virunga Mountains, which straddle the border of Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Rwanda. And there I met some of the few remaining mountain gorillas, including a mischievous youngster called Poppy.

"As I was preparing to talk to camera, Poppy was at my feet, trying to take off my shoes. It was an experience that has stayed with me, but it was tinged with sadness, as I thought that I may be seeing some of the last of their kind."

In the 1970s, there were around 250 mountain gorillas in the area Attenborough visited. But in the years since, thanks to a joint effort from governments, rangers, and conservationists, the numbers have grown in the Viruga Mountains.

In 2005, a scheme was set up to share tourism revenue with local communities, reducing the need to use the gorilla's habitat for agricultural purposes — and now, in 2020, gorilla numbers are up over 1000.

Poppy's daughter and granddaughter are among them.

"To see Poppy's daughter and granddaughter thriving is thrilling," finishes Attenborough.

"It just shows what we can achieve when we put our minds to it. I do truly believe that together we can create a better future.

" I might not be here to see it, but if we make the right decisions at this critical moment, we can safeguard our planet's ecosystems, its extraordinary biodiversity, and all its inhabitants.

"What happens next is up to every one of us."

Links

• The World Lost Two-Thirds Of Its Wildlife In 50 Years. We Are To Blame
• Climate change is having a devastating impact on Australian wildlife
• Climate change could trigger sudden losses of world's wildlife: study
• Half of plant and animal species at risk from climate change in world’s most important natural places 
• Climate Change And Its Effects On Wildlife Resources
• Climate change leads to a loss of species
• 1 million species of plants and animals at risk of extinction, U.N. report warns
• Wildlife destruction 'not a slippery slope but a series of cliff edges'

The World Lost Two-Thirds Of Its Wildlife In 50 Years. We Are To Blame

NPR - Nathan Rott

A baby turtle is released into the ocean in Bali, Indonesia, Tuesday, June 9, 2020, part of a campaign to save the endangered Lekang sea turtles. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

Human activities have caused the world's wildlife populations to plummet by more than two-thirds in the last 50 years, according to a new report from the World Wildlife Fund.

The decline is happening at an unprecedented rate, the report warns, and it threatens human life as well.

"The findings are clear," the report states. "Our relationship with nature is broken."

The Living Planet Report 2020 report drew on wildlife monitoring of more than 4,300 different vertebrate species - mammals, fish, birds and amphibians - from around the world. It found that population sizes for those monitored species declined by an average of 68 percent from 1970 to 2016.

In the American tropics, including the Caribbean and Latin America, population sizes decreased by a staggering 94 percent.

Forest clearing for agricultural space was the predominant cause of the decline, the report says, noting that one-third of the planet's land is currently being used for food production. Human-caused climate change is another growing driver.

"We can't ignore the evidence – these serious declines in wildlife species populations are an indicator that nature is unraveling and that our planet is flashing red warning signs of systems failure," wrote Marco Lambertini, Director General of World Wildlife Fund International.

The 83-page document, a collaboration with the Zoological Society of London, joins a growing and ominous list of academic research and international reports warning that human activities are causing a steep decline in global biodiversity.

Protecting biodiversity amounts to protecting humanity.
UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay

The United Nations published a sweeping report last year cautioning that 1 million of the estimated 8 million plant and animal species on the planet are at risk of extinction, many within decades, because of human activities. It made a similar plea for people to care, punctuated with a warning:

"Protecting biodiversity amounts to protecting humanity," UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay, said at the time of the report's release.

A subsequent United Nations report, published in July of this year, warned that biodiversity loss, and humans' destruction of nature, would lead to an increase in animal-to-human diseases, like COVID-19. The pandemic has also reportedly contributed to an increase in deforestation in some parts of the world, amplifying the risk.

Scientists have long-warned that the world is entering a sixth mass extinction, driven by humanity's consumption of wildlife and wild spaces, and the burning of fossil fuels. Global warming will also cause ecosystems to shift faster than some species can adapt.

Actions can be taken to slow the decline. An article published Thursday in the journal Nature outlined steps that the global community could take to "bend the curve" on biodiversity loss. People could rapidly cut greenhouse gas emissions, avoiding the worst climate change scenarios; vast tracts of land and sea could be conserved; damaged areas could be restored; and food production practices could evolve to lighten its impact on existing ecosystems.

The World Wildlife Fund's report says the planet's ecosystems only have a limited ability to regenerate, a process that it says is essential to all life on Earth.

The report's authors compared ecosystems' ability to regenerate with the ever-growing human population and found an ecological imbalance.

"The human enterprise currently demands 1.56 times more than the amount that Earth can regenerate," the report says.

Links

• Sir David Attenborough Delivers Stark Warning In BBC Doc 'Extinction: The Facts'
• Climate change is having a devastating impact on Australian wildlife
• Climate change could trigger sudden losses of world's wildlife: study
• Half of plant and animal species at risk from climate change in world’s most important natural places 
• Climate Change And Its Effects On Wildlife Resources
• Climate change leads to a loss of species
• 1 million species of plants and animals at risk of extinction, U.N. report warns
• Wildlife destruction 'not a slippery slope but a series of cliff edges'

Greenland Glacier Loses 110 Square Kilometres' Worth Of Ice

ABC News - AP

In this image proved by the European Space Agency, ESA, showing the glacier section that broke off the fjord called Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden, bottom, which is roughly 80 kilometers (50 miles) long and 20 kilometers (12 miles) wide, the National Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland said Monday Sept. 14, 2020. The glacier is at the end of the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream, where it flows off land and into the ocean. Scientists with National Geological Survey see it as evidence of rapid climate change leading to the disintegration of the Arctic's largest remaining ice shelf. (European Space Agency via AP)

Key Points The National Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland said the "disintegration" of the ice shelf was a major concern The ice sheet has lost more ice than has been added in the form of snow this year Greenland lost a record amount of ice during an extra-warm 2019

A chunk of Greenland's ice cap estimated to be 110 square kilometres has broken off in the far north-east Arctic.

Scientists say the incident is evidence of rapid climate change.

The glacier section broke off the fjord called Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden, which is about 80 kilometres long and 20 kilometres wide, the National Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) reported.

The glacier is at the end of the north-east Greenland ice stream, where it flows off land into the ocean.

Annual end-of-melt-season changes for the Arctic's largest ice shelf in the region are measured by optical satellite imagery.

GEUS showed area losses for the past two years each exceeded 50 square kilometres.

"We should be very concerned about what appears to be progressive disintegration at the Arctic's largest remaining ice shelf," GEUS professor Jason Box said.

We've been talking for decades.
Now we must act

If we don't make changes, climate change will make much of our planet uninhabitable. We've known this for decades but we've done very little. I want to know why, writes Richard Aedy.

Greenpeace spokeswoman Laura Meller spoke out from aboard the organisation's ship Arctic Sunrise at the edge of the sea ice.

"This is yet another alarm bell being rung by the climate crisis in a rapidly heating Arctic," she said.

Last week, Ruth Mottram, an ice scientist at the Danish Meteorological Institute in Copenhagen, said: "Again this year, the ice sheet has lost more ice than has been added in the form of snow."

"What is thought-provoking is that if we … had seen this meltdown 30 years ago, we would have called it extreme," she said.

"So in recent years, we have become accustomed to a high meltdown."

The ice broke off the fjord called Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden, which is about 80 kilometres long and 20 kilometres wide.(Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution: Matt Osman)

In August, a study showed that Greenland lost a record amount of ice during an extra-warm 2019, with the melt massive enough to cover the US state of California in more than 1.25 metres of water.

Links

• Climate change: Greenland’s biggest ice shelf breaking up as temperatures soar
• Greenland's melting ice may affect everyone's future
• Climate change: 'Unprecedented' ice loss as Greenland breaks record
• Climate change: Warmth shatters section of Greenland ice shelf
• As their home melts, Greenlanders confront the fallout of climate change
• Climate crisis: Ice sheets melting at ‘worst-case scenario’ rate