Book contents
- Biological Extinction: New Perspectives
- Biological Extinction: New Perspectives
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Prologue
- 1 Extinction in Deep Time
- 2 Biodiversity and Global Change
- 3 The State of the World’s Biodiversity
- 4 Extinction Threats to Life in the Ocean and Opportunities for Their Amelioration
- 5 Out of the Soil
- 6 The Green Revolution and Crop Biodiversity
- 7 Population
- 8 Game Over?
- 9 Why We’re in the Sixth Great Extinction and What It Means to Humanity
- 10 The Consequences of Biodiversity Loss for Human Well-Being
- 11 Terra Incognita
- 12 How Do We Stem Biodiversity Loss?
- 13 Can Smart Villages Help to Stem Biodiversity Loss?
- 14 The New Design Condition
- Index
- Plate Section (PDF Only)
- References
9 - Why We’re in the Sixth Great Extinction and What It Means to Humanity
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 August 2019
- Biological Extinction: New Perspectives
- Biological Extinction: New Perspectives
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Prologue
- 1 Extinction in Deep Time
- 2 Biodiversity and Global Change
- 3 The State of the World’s Biodiversity
- 4 Extinction Threats to Life in the Ocean and Opportunities for Their Amelioration
- 5 Out of the Soil
- 6 The Green Revolution and Crop Biodiversity
- 7 Population
- 8 Game Over?
- 9 Why We’re in the Sixth Great Extinction and What It Means to Humanity
- 10 The Consequences of Biodiversity Loss for Human Well-Being
- 11 Terra Incognita
- 12 How Do We Stem Biodiversity Loss?
- 13 Can Smart Villages Help to Stem Biodiversity Loss?
- 14 The New Design Condition
- Index
- Plate Section (PDF Only)
- References
Summary
The annihilation of biological diversity is one of the most severe human-induced global environmental problems. Species and populations are being driven to extinction every year at so high a rate, that Earth’s assemblage of plants and animals is now well into a sixth mass extinction episode. The most recent Living Planet Index has estimated that wildlife abundance on the planet dropped by some 60 per cent between 1970 and 2012 (WWF, 2016). The richest biota the world has ever seen is disappearing in the blink of an eye from the perspective of geological time. And humanity is busily making it worse.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Biological ExtinctionNew Perspectives, pp. 262 - 284Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019
References
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