Alarm bell on one million species facing extinction has been sounded and heard. What now?
- The damning report on the acceleration of species extinction and its impact on human life is the wake-up call we all need. Unfortunately, it was short on clear guidance on what must be done to reverse the current trend
I do not need the 1,700-page report by the Intergovernmental Science Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), released last week, to remind me about the chunks of nature we are losing as we crowd, overexploit and pollute our planet.
For years, I have swum out to sea from my bay, impervious to the warnings of village friends that I will be eaten by a shark. True, an old man in the village was attacked and killed back in the 1980s.
But that was then, when there were fish in the bay that daily enticed sharks to shore. Over the years, squid have replaced the disappearing fish, and now jellyfish, sea urchins and starfish are replacing the squid.
A few stalwart fishermen still wade through the bay with nets and torches at night, but what they catch is a sorry sight, outdone only by their wistful tales of the catches their grandfathers used to bring home every night.