© Georgina Goodwin/Barcroft MediaOne in five species now face extinction, but that figure could rise to as many as half within 80 years.
One in five species on Earth now faces extinction, and that will rise to 50% by the end of the century unless urgent action is taken. That is the stark view of the world's leading biologists, ecologists and economists who will gather on Monday to determine the social and economic changes needed to save the planet's biosphere.
"The living fabric of the world is slipping through our fingers without our showing much sign of caring," say the organisers of the Biological Extinction conference held at the Vatican this week.
Threatened creatures such as the tiger or rhino may make occasional headlines, but little attention is paid to the eradication of most other life forms, they argue. But as the conference will hear, these animals and plants provide us with our food and medicine. They purify our water and air while also absorbing carbon emissions from our cars and factories, regenerating soil, and providing us with aesthetic inspiration.
"Rich western countries are now siphoning up the planet's resources and destroying its ecosystems at an unprecedented rate," said biologist Paul Ehrlich, of Stanford University in California. "We want to build highways across the Serengeti to get more rare earth minerals for our cellphones. We grab all the fish from the sea, wreck the coral reefs and put carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. We have triggered a major extinction event. The question is: how do we stop it?"
Comment: One suspects that Ehrlich couldn't be happier if billions of humans simply vanished. This author of the Population Bomb has been scaremongering about global warming and overpopulation for years.