Wild life

Will we one day live in a world inhabited by fewer and fewer species of wildlife? This is a very real possibility, according to the new report for 2022 released by Living Planet, which works with the WWF to put out the report each year. According to its findings, we have lost one third of wildlife species in the last 50 years. The number has been dwindling as a result of the growth of human populations and greater consumption by them.

In 2016, according to the report we had lost around 50 percent of species which inhabit the planet causing the number to dwindle. By 2020, this number stands at almost 70 percent. There may come a time when more and more species become extinct, forever. And as a result, we will be a less diverse and less beautiful planet. Most of the losses are caused by commercial enterprises, which focus on the destruction of animal habitats. This is happening most commonly in Central and South America where vast acres of forest have been cut down to create land for pastures where commercial animals are raised for purposes that benefit man, but not the ecological system. In doing so, we forget that this system is a delicately balanced one closely connected by many factors. Unless we act urgently to save species and ensure that animal life is not lost, one by one, as numbers fall, we will suffer ourselves.

The food chain is after all something all of us understand and have been taught as a part of basic biology. We cannot afford to live on a planet from which wildlife is disappearing so rapidly. The measures we can take have to be considered and put into action everywhere in the world. Among these is the need to consume less and consider changing the diets we eat by moving to more plant-based foods and sparing wildlife from damage through human greed. Humans have single-handedly caused more loss to the earth than any other species in the last half century. Today this loss is continuing. And the pace is in fact expanding. We need to act collectively to stop this, and to change our habits so that we can work to protect wildlife wherever we live, and whatever we do in order to save ourselves and our future generations.