Signal About one million plant and animal species at risk of extinction

Summary

The report states that about one million plant and animal species are currently on the brink of extinction, many of them within a few decades. The figure is presented alongside the diagnosis that global biodiversity is declining at an unprecedented pace. In the same passage the report explains that the average size of vertebrate populations worldwide has dropped by about 69 to 73 percent, with especially large declines in Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa. It reads this as evidence of serious ecosystem disruption and judges that efforts so far have failed to halt the trend. Such loss of natural resources undermines the foundations of the global economy, food security and health.