From: imbibe@mindspring.com   
      
   UN Report: Nature’s Dangerous Decline ‘Unprecedented’; Species   
   Extinction Rates ‘Accelerating’   
      
   PARIS, 6 May 2019 – Nature is declining globally at rates unprecedented    
   in human history – and the rate of species extinctions is accelerating,    
   with grave impacts on people around the world now likely, warns a landmark    
   new report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity    
   and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), the summary of which was approved at the    
   7th session of the IPBES Plenary, meeting last week (29 April – 4 May) in   
   Paris.   
      
   “The overwhelming evidence of the IPBES Global Assessment, from a wide range    
   of different fields of knowledge, presents an ominous picture,” said IPBES    
   Chair, Sir Robert Watson. “The health of ecosystems on which we and all   
   other    
   species depend is deteriorating more rapidly than ever. We are eroding the    
   very foundations of our economies, livelihoods, food security, health and    
   quality of life worldwide.”   
      
   “The Report also tells us that it is not too late to make a difference,    
   but only if we start now at every level from local to global,” he said.    
   “Through ‘transformative change’, nature can still be conserved,   
   restored    
   and used sustainably – this is also key to meeting most other global goals.    
   By transformative change, we mean a fundamental, system-wide reorganization    
   across technological, economic and social factors, including paradigms,    
   goals and values.”   
      
   “The member States of IPBES Plenary have now acknowledged that, by its    
   very nature, transformative change can expect opposition from those with    
   interests vested in the status quo, but also that such opposition can be    
   overcome for the broader public good,” Watson said.   
      
   The IPBES Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services    
   is the most comprehensive ever completed. It is the first intergovernmental    
   Report of its kind and builds on the landmark Millennium Ecosystem Assessment    
   of 2005, introducing innovative ways of evaluating evidence.   
      
   Compiled by 145 expert authors from 50 countries over the past 3 years,    
   with inputs from another 310 contributing authors, the Report assesses    
   changes over the past five decades, providing a comprehensive picture of    
   the relationship between economic development pathways and their impacts on    
   nature. It also offers a range of possible scenarios for the coming decades.   
      
   Based on the systematic review of about 15,000 scientific and government    
   sources, the Report also draws (for the first time ever at this scale) on    
   indigenous and local knowledge, particularly addressing issues relevant to    
   Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities.   
      
   “Biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people are our common heritage    
   and humanity’s most important life-supporting ‘safety net’. But our   
   safety    
   net is stretched almost to breaking point,” said Prof. Sandra Díaz   
   (Argentina),    
   who co-chaired the Assessment with Prof. Josef Settele (Germany) and    
   Prof. Eduardo S. Brondízio (Brazil and USA).    
      
   “The diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems, as well as    
   many fundamental contributions we derive from nature, are declining fast,    
   although we still have the means to ensure a sustainable future for people    
   and the planet.”   
      
   The Report finds that around 1 million animal and plant species are now    
   threatened with extinction, many within decades, more than ever before    
   in human history.    
      
   The average abundance of native species in most major land-based habitats    
   has fallen by at least 20%, mostly since 1900. More than 40% of amphibian    
   species, almost 33% of reef-forming corals and more than a third of all    
   marine mammals are threatened. The picture is less clear for insect species,    
   but available evidence supports a tentative estimate of 10% being threatened.    
   At least 680 vertebrate species had been driven to extinction since the    
   16th century and more than 9% of all domesticated breeds of mammals used    
   for food and agriculture had become extinct by 2016, with at least 1,000    
   more breeds still threatened.   
      
   https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2019/05/nature-de   
   line-unprecedented-report/   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)