Humans Threatening 1 Million Species With Extinction

A major new report has found that humans are having a devastating impact on the environment with one million plant and animal species now threatened with extinction as a direct result of human activity. The report draws on 15,000 reference materials and was three years in the making. Compiled by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), it also found that humans are destroying the very ecosystems that support their societies.

This infographic provides some key and depressing takeaways from the research. What stands out in particular is that a quarter of all species are now threatened with extinction. This rises to 40 percent for amphibians and 33 percent for marine mammals. The horrific impact on amphibian populations is no coincidence given that 85 percent of wetlands that were present in 1700 had been lost by 2000. 75 percent of the terrestrial environment has now been "severely altered" by human actions.