Biodiversity: where the world is making progress – and where it’s not

The fundamental problem is that we have failed to address the underlying drivers of biodiversity loss. Targets for reducing pollution, habitat loss and climate change all show negative progress. We have achieved several easy wins, but the tougher challenges remain. Overcoming these will mean stopping the activities that are at the root of biodiversity loss.

  Rescue plan for nature: How to fix the biodiversity crisis

We’ve been ravaging the planet’s ecosystems for too long, but crucial decisions this year could be the turning point that help us restore our relationship with nature

  Biodiversity loss could be making us sick – here’s why

We need to get serious about the urban microbiome. Restoring natural habitats can help increase biodiversity and the health of city residents. Growing more diverse native plants, creating safe, inclusive and accessible green spaces and rewilding inner city and suburban parks can restore microbial diversity in urban life.

  Biodiversity may prove to be the defining issue of our age

We are thus in an era where two great environmental anxieties – climate change and biodiversity loss – are converging. Biologists expect many more species to go the way of the rat. If we are not already in the midst of the sixth mass extinction, we soon will be. Or will we? There’s no doubt that large animals are in trouble.

 A million plant and animal species are going extinct—and capitalism is to blame

Global capitalism is, indeed, destroying the Earth. A blockbuster UN report on global biodiversity details how economic systems are driving a million species toward extinction—and imperiling the survival of humanity.

 A ‘Crossroads’ for Humanity: Earth’s Biodiversity Is Still Collapsing

Countries have made insufficient progress on international goals designed to halt a catastrophic slide, a new report found.

 Live fast, die small: how global heating is simplifying the world’s ecosystems

Global warming is one of the biggest threats to biodiversity worldwide. As temperatures increase, many species are forced to move to new habitats, like fish fleeing warming waters. While the fish have to adapt to new conditions elsewhere, it’s the effect that their departure has on other species that unpicks the delicate relationships that comprise ecosystems. Seabird colonies which were accustomed to finding fish in a particular place may soon find their food source has moved on to cooler waters further north.

 Worried about Earth’s future? Well, the outlook is worse than even scientists can grasp

The problems, all tied to human consumption and population growth, will almost certainly worsen over coming decades. The damage will be felt for centuries and threatens the survival of all species, including our own.

 “Extinction breeds extinctions”: How losing one species can wipe out many more

Humans are causing a mass extinction. And humans can stop it.

The great ecology challenge

SINCE the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992, the environment has become a major concern for people across the world. Climate warming, the pollution of freshwater reserves, the destruction of habitats and the disappearance of many living species have made us realise that far from freeing humankind from nature, our extraordinary economic growth has given us an unprecedented responsibility towards it.

Already Unprecedented Rate of Wildlife Extinctions Is Accelerating

New research suggests roughly 500 species are likely to go extinct in the next two decades.

As Biodiversity Declines, Tropical Diseases Thrive

Global health advocates often argue that the tropical diseases that plague many countries, such as malaria and dengue, can be conquered simply with more money for health care – namely medicines and vaccines. But a new paper is a reminder that ecology also has a pretty big say in whether pathogens thrive or die off. Using a statistical model, researchers predicted that countries that lose biodiversity will have a heavier burden of vector-borne and parasitic diseases.

Bringing Biodiversity Data Online, One Leaf At A Time

Converting millions of pressed plants into a vital digital archive.

Extinction Is Not Inevitable. These Species Were Saved.

Conservation efforts have saved up to 48 mammal and bird species since 1993, but scientists say much more is needed to stem biodiversity loss.

Global warming is forcing species to reorganize their ecosystems

Depending on how you frame it, the biodiversity crisis looks very different. At a global level, we're losing species at an unprecedented rate. It's estimated that organisms are going extinct at a rate 1,000 times greater than they would if humans weren't around. And according to the UN, one million species are currently facing extinction.

How Disease and Conquest Carved a New Planetary Landscape

Migration and a global shipping network have flattened biodiversity worldwide.

Humans Are Speeding Extinction and Altering the Natural World at an ‘Unprecedented’ Pace

Humans are transforming Earth’s natural landscapes so dramatically that as many as one million plant and animal species are now at risk of extinction, posing a dire threat to ecosystems that people all over the world depend on for their survival, a sweeping new United Nations assessment has concluded.

Is There Really Such Thing as a ‘Safe’ Limit for Biodiversity Loss?

Biodiversity may be below ‘safe’ levels on 58 percent of the Earth.

New Studies Reassess Importance of Biodiversity

IN recent years biodiversity, the number of different species in an ecosystem, has sometimes been treated like the Holy Grail. Researchers have shown that biodiversity leads to greater productivity and better retention of nutrients, both often interpreted as signs of ecosystem health. But while this result has been hailed by conservationists, scientists still have not been able to say just why it should be so.

Some of the Most Delicious Foods in the World Are Disappearing

How the loss of biodiversity affects what we eat—and why it’s dangerous.

The American Bumblebee Is Facing Extinction in Canada

A new study found that American bumblebees are in big trouble up north.

The Bugs We Can’t Live Without

Insect populations are in dramatic decline, and the consequences could be serious for everything from waste management to agriculture.

The species the world lost this decade

This decade has made it clear: Humans are killing Earth’s great biodiversity.

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

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.

To Tell the Story of Biodiversity Loss, Make It About Humans

The authors of a sweeping United Nations report on species in danger of extinction faced the same question I often do in reporting: Why should anyone care about the loss of nature?

What is Biodiversity?

From bears, salmon and worms to trees, soil and fungi, it is the diversity of species living in an area and the relationships they have with one another. It is made up of three features: ecosystem diversity, species diversity and genetic diversity. The more they are interconnected, the more resilient the NET OF BIODIVERSITY becomes.

Zoos are key to the planet’s healthy future – don’t let them go extinct

n the past 200 years, zoos around the world became true conservation powerhouses and one of the most accessible ways to reconnect our urbanising species with nature.