Nature & Environment
Endangered Species Threatened By Human Overexploitation
Brooke James
First Posted: Aug 12, 2016 06:29 AM EDT
Nearly nine thousand species have their existence hang in the balance as humans continue to exploit natural resources. While most of the discussions today are focused on Climate Change, new studies suggest that threats of guns, nets, and bulldozers actually remain as the main danger, especially to the animal kingdom.
Sean Maxwell of the University of Queensland noted in a statement for the International Union for Conservation of Nature, "Addressing these old foes of overharvesting and agricultural activities are key to turning around the biodiversity extinction crisis. This must be at the forefront of the conservation agenda."
The study, published in the journal Nature, is part of the preparation for the IUCN's World Conservation Congress in Hawaii next month. It showed that there are around 8.688 species across the globe that are threatened or near-threatened. When they broke down and analyzed what were threatening these species, they found that one factor has been at play: human overexploitation.
This roughly translates to species being put under pressure due to commerce, recreation, poaching, and hunting. Then, there's also the fact that humans work at faster rates than the animals could replenish their numbers, leading to declines in their populations.
Of the species studied, an astonishing 5,.407 species were also threatened due to intensified agriculture, including cheetahs from Africa, hairy-nosed otters from Asia, and the huemul deer from South America. According to IFL Science, despite the fact that this category also overlaps with "overexploitation," it denotes disturbance of their habitat, especially caused by land modification.
Other major threats to these species include urban development, pollution, disease, and even invasive species. In the end, the study concluded that while conservationists are tackling herculean jobs in trying to minimize climate change, they must, instead, refocus their efforts on the environment's old enemies - the predatory and exploitative nature of humans.
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Tagshuman overexploitation, animal species, Endangered species, animal preservation, human error, Climate Change, Conservation ©2024 ScienceWorldReport.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The window to the world of science news.
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First Posted: Aug 12, 2016 06:29 AM EDT
Nearly nine thousand species have their existence hang in the balance as humans continue to exploit natural resources. While most of the discussions today are focused on Climate Change, new studies suggest that threats of guns, nets, and bulldozers actually remain as the main danger, especially to the animal kingdom.
Sean Maxwell of the University of Queensland noted in a statement for the International Union for Conservation of Nature, "Addressing these old foes of overharvesting and agricultural activities are key to turning around the biodiversity extinction crisis. This must be at the forefront of the conservation agenda."
The study, published in the journal Nature, is part of the preparation for the IUCN's World Conservation Congress in Hawaii next month. It showed that there are around 8.688 species across the globe that are threatened or near-threatened. When they broke down and analyzed what were threatening these species, they found that one factor has been at play: human overexploitation.
This roughly translates to species being put under pressure due to commerce, recreation, poaching, and hunting. Then, there's also the fact that humans work at faster rates than the animals could replenish their numbers, leading to declines in their populations.
Of the species studied, an astonishing 5,.407 species were also threatened due to intensified agriculture, including cheetahs from Africa, hairy-nosed otters from Asia, and the huemul deer from South America. According to IFL Science, despite the fact that this category also overlaps with "overexploitation," it denotes disturbance of their habitat, especially caused by land modification.
Other major threats to these species include urban development, pollution, disease, and even invasive species. In the end, the study concluded that while conservationists are tackling herculean jobs in trying to minimize climate change, they must, instead, refocus their efforts on the environment's old enemies - the predatory and exploitative nature of humans.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone