Letters | ‘Mass species extinction’ headlines are overblown and ignore success in conservation efforts

Only a very small percentage of animal species have gone extinct since scientists began recording such events.

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In 2016, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that humpback whale populations had recovered to such an extent that they no longer required protection under the Endangered Species Act. Photo: Handout

Published: 5:00pm, 14 May 2019Updated: 5:00pm, 14 May 2019

David Dodwell admits he may have exaggerated just a bit when lamenting the loss of life in the seas around his idyllic home, and is amazed at the wonderful diversity of natural life in Hong Kong (“Loud and clear alarm bell sounded on species extinction. What now?”, May 11). I share his amazement and wonder, but it’s a shame he wasn’t able to see that the United Nations IPBES’ (Intergovernmental Science Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services) claim, that one million species are heading for extinction due to human activities, may have also been a bit of an exaggeration – just a bit.

How exactly did this UN body arrive at such a huge and frightening figure? Apparently it was referring to one million species out of eight million, but all you see in yet more doomsday headlines is “one million species under threat”.

In fact, less than 2 per cent of bird and mammal species have gone extinct over the last few centuries. The success stories about the revitalisation of nature and species is completely ignored. Humpback whales, for example, are flourishing after being under threat. Others do remain under threat, and many, like the orangutan, are under threat due to the demand for biofuels to replace fossil fuels to combat climate change. Sad, but true.

So, please, let us not just blindly accept this assertion from the IPBES. Sad that Mr Dodwell seems to believe our only hope is with the likes of a 16-year-old Swedish schoolgirl and the extreme, uncompromising, shut-down-western-society Extinction Rebellion.

G. Bailey, Enfield, London