Are we ready to face extinction?

A signifying question of our generation, are we ready to face extinction?

A few months back, social media and news agencies are flooded with messages which saw the great Barrier Reef being pronounced dead. Before we start pointing fingers, we need to look to ourselves and ask, are we ready…really ready to face reality?

Surely, we are holding numerous talks on ecology and ecological consciousness but what are we really doing? We just talk. our actions have always pinched at our consciousness, yet we want more and so much more.

Latest reports released by World Wildlife Fund's Living Planet 2016, have suggested that the global wildlife population could fall by an average of 67 per cent by the end of 2020. All of which is attributed to human activities.

The report based on statistical records from 1970 indicated that the global populations of fish, birds, mammals, amphibians and reptiles have already declined by 58 per cent between 1970 and 2012.

"This places the world on a trajectory of a potential two-thirds decline within a span of the half-century ending in 2020," said the report.

The report also highlights the magnitude of human impact on the planet and highlights the changes needed in the way society is fed and fuelled.

According to the report, the top threats to species were directly linked to human activities including habitat loss, degradation and over exploitation of wildlife.

The report's findings provide additional evidence that the planet was entering completely unchartered territory, including a possible sixth mass extinction.

"Researchers are already calling this period the Anthropocene — an era in which human activities are influencing changes in the climate and the environment," said the report.

So, the question remains, are we ready?

-By Badaplang Jyrwa

(Opinions expressed in the article are those of the writer's own and TNT-The Northeast Today may not subscribe to the same views) 

(Featured Image Source: 123RF/ Representational)