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Loss of biodiversity and ecosystems
Consequences of unsustainable consumption
Plastics

Loss of biodiversity and ecosystems

• Renewed dire warnings about steep declines in insects have been published by the Somerset Wildlife Trusts. Here is the full report.
• See also CNN on the massive decline in insect populations worldwide
• October 2019: The 2018 National Biodiversity Assessment has been released. Almost half of all South Africa's 1021 ecosystem types are threatened with ecological collapse. One in seven of the 23,312 indigenous species that were assessed are considered threatened with extinction. Some headline statements: Estuaries and wetlands are the most threatened ecosystems. 2804 of the 20401 plant species are threatened with extinction. Freshwater fish are the most threatened group. See the press release headlines and actions needed as well as this Maverick article. SA conservation efforts are not bad, but these facts nevertheless point to the dire need to address the underlying causes, including habitat loss. Quote: South Africa is ranked in the top three countries globally when it comes to plant and marine species endemism (species found nowhere else on earth ). The diversity and uniqueness of South Africa's species and ecosystems makes us one of the world's 17 megadiverse nations - countries that together contain more than two thirds of the world's biodiversity .
• May 2019: the international body of scientists Intergovernmental Science Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) comes to dire conclusions, speaking of a sixth wave of extinction. Here is the New York Times article; here is the summary for policymakers, a UN news item
• Loss of rainforests is still accelerating according to Global Forest Watch
• With Bolsonaro's ascendancy to power in Brazil, the rate of deforestation of the Amazon rainforest is reaching its own tipping point as deforestation has surged to a record high according to Brazil's own National Institute for Space Research; see also the independent group Imazon.
• Australian biodiversity is apparently at breaking point
• The link between environmental breakdown and socioeconomic stability is explored in the IPPR Study of February 2019
• According to the WWF Living Planet report, there has been a steep decline in the number of wild animals since the 1970s. Here is the full report
• UN Convention on Biological Diversity and article highlighting need for a new UN framework
• NY Times article: Insects are disappearing based on this scientific publication entitled More than 75 percent decline over 27 years in total flying insect biomass in protected areas.
• Brazil has had its worst annual deforestation for a decade, and with Bolsonaro as president, things will get worse
• Along with soya beans and other products cocoa and chocolate is driving deforestation
• Animals are struggling to adapt as the pace of climate change and ecosystem accelerates; here is the scientific study.

Ecological change and climate change

• Climate and ecological changes are intimately related. The ecology of boreal forests is being fundamentally changed by the earthworms which appear to be turning these forests from carbon sinks into carbon sources. The spread of earthworms in turn is made possible by rising temperatures and thawing permafrost.
• Higher rainfall in the American Midwest causes excessive loads of fertiliser used in agriculture to be washed into the Gulf of Mexico. The resulting oxygen deficiency (hypoxia) in turn creates dead zones in the ocean where marine life cannot survive. Shrimps, fish and crabs swim away, while plants and animals that are not mobile die en masse. The hypoxia task force is fighting a losing battle.

Unsustainable consumption and its consequences

Private vehicles, roads, concrete

• Here is a polemic against private motor cars by environmentalist and columnist George Montbiot

Plastics

• Plastics represent a serious climate change hazard as reported by the Center for International Environmental Law; here is the full report
• Article in Science Magazine on plastic going into the oceans
• Microplastics now found in arctic ice
• Microplastics are entering the deep seas and are now to be found just about everywhere.
• A study has found that so-called biodegradable plastic are still fully intact three years after being buried in soil.
• The recent plastics backlash