How many animal and plant species are at risk on the planet? And what are the main causes of the threats that effectively make Goal 15 of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (entitled " Life on Land" and stating : "Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems") unattainable? Among the many scientific investigations, the most comprehensive and reliable come from the reports published by the IPBES ( Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services ) , which is essentially a United Nations body. Among the main tasks of the IPBES are the scientific assessment of the state of the planet's biodiversity and the analysis of the impact of environmental changes, starting with the climate crisis, on ecosystems.
According to the most recent IPBES studies, approximately 1 million species out of 8 million (including many not yet catalogued) are at risk of extinction and the extinction rate is today tens or hundreds of times higher than the average of the last 10 million years and we are approaching by leaps and bounds the sixth mass extinction in Earth's history, the first at the hands of humans.
The causes of the risk of extinction of animals and plants
- The land use (deforestation, intensive agriculture, urbanization)
- The direct exploitation of organisms (hunting, and intensive fishing and excessive)
- La climate crisis
- Pollution
- Invasive species introduced by humans
The link between the most significant causes of the extinction risk for 1 million animal and plant species is human activity: the threats to ecosystems and biodiversity come from humans and their behavior, not from natural phenomena. This means they could be at least reduced, if not eliminated. The ISBES warns that over 500 species have habitats insufficient for their survival, 75 percent of the terrestrial environment and 66 percent of the marine environment are "severely altered" by humans, and the biomass of wild mammals has declined by 82 percent.
The species most at risk
The major dangers concern:
- 27 percent of mammals
- 21 percent of the birds
- 36 percent of amphibians
- 33 percent of the corals barrier builders
- 10 percent of insects, including some pollinators, including the bees
- 12 percent of tree species
- Many wild plants, such as cacti, cycads and orchids.
Species at risk in Italy
Italy is one of the countries in the world most affected by the cyclone of animal and plant species extinction risks, also because it is one of the nations with the highest levels of biodiversity in both fauna and flora. These are some species particularly close to extinction in Italy:
- The Pinna nobilis: a large marine pinnacle considered critically endangered and threatened by the protozoan Haplosporidium pinnae, which has decimated approximately 95% of the Mediterranean populations.
- The Italian Agile Frog (Rana latastei): affected by habitat fragmentation, loss of genetic biodiversity, pollution and in particular microplastics, invasive predators such as the American bullfrog and crayfish.
- The Plecotus sardus (Sardinian long ear): a bat endemic to Sardinia, considered critically endangered due to the climate crisis, frequent fires and competition for roost sites.
- The European eel: a species severely overexploited in Italian rivers and lagoons, particularly in the Po Delta. Today the population is less than 1% of what it was in the 1960s, due to dams, land reclamation and overfishing.
- Wild orchids: some species, such as Cypripedium calceolus, are seriously threatened.
All 17 Sustainable Development Goals set out in the UN 2030 Agenda have become unattainable: this book tells the story, the main culprits and the data behind the decline.
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