Wild Species Relied On By Billions Now At Risk, U.N.-Backed Panel Reports

Every day, billions of people rely on wild flora and fauna for food, medicine, and energy. However, according to a recent United Nations-backed assessment, overexploitation, climate change, pollution, and deforestation are pushing one million species to extinction, Fabiano Maisonnave reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Photo Insert: Aside from the bleak image, the paper offers policymakers ideas and examples of sustainable usage of wild wildlife and plants.

According to a report released Friday by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, unless humans improve their sustainable use of nature, the Earth will lose 12 percent of its wild tree species, over 1,000 wild mammal species, and nearly 450 species of sharks and rays, among other irreparable harm.

According to the paper, humans use approximately 50,000 wild species on a regular basis, and one out of every five persons in the world's 7.9 billion population relies on those species for food and money.

“It’s essential that those uses be sustainable because you need them to be there for your children and grandchildren. So, when uses of wild species become unsustainable, it’s bad for the species, it’s bad for the ecosystem and it’s bad for the people,” report co-chair Marla R. Emery of the United States told AP.

Aside from the bleak image, the paper offers policymakers ideas and examples of sustainable usage of wild wildlife and plants. According to the research, securing tenure rights for Indigenous and local peoples who have historically made sustainable use of wild animals should be a priority.

Further, Indigenous peoples hold around 38,000,000 square kilometers (14,600,000 square miles) of land in 87 nations, accounting for over 40% of terrestrial preserved areas, according to the study.

“Their lands tend to be doing better in sustainability than other lands. And the common thread is the ability to continue to engage in customary practices,” said Emery, who is also a researcher with the US Forest Service.

Emery argued that it is critical to ensure national and international systems, such as education, that encourage the preservation of Indigenous languages because it preserves older members' ability to pass on traditional knowledge about sustainable practices to future generations.

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