Environment

Human Exploitation Unsustainable

A new report highlights how unsustainable logging, hunting and fishing are driving extinctions, putting food security at risk in the future. Established in 2012, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) points out that 1 in 5 humans relies on 50,000 species of wild animals, fungi and plants for food, and all are being overexploited by the planet’s growing population.

The IPBES assessment also says about a third of ocean fish are being overfished, more than 10% of trees are threatened by unsustainable logging and more than 1,300 mammals are being pushed to extinction by unbridled hunting. It says “transformative changes” are needed to halt the overexploitation.

Record Tree Loss

More trees were lost to deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon region during the first half of this year than during the same period in any other year. The loss amounted to a 10.6% increase from January to June of last year.

The country’s national space research agency says 1,540 square miles of Amazon rainforest were lost to logging and land clearing for agriculture or livestock. Brazil also recorded the highest number of Amazon wildfires in 15 years. Trees are typically felled by loggers for valuable wood. Ranchers and land speculators then come in to clear the land for agriculture. Such tree losses release clouds of carbon into the atmosphere, worsening the climate crisis.