biodiversity loss

The Living Planet Index | Earth Wise

November 22, 2022 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The World Wildlife Fund and the Zoological Society of London recently published the latest Living Planet Index, which is designed to measure how animal populations are changing through time. The purpose is to provide an assessment of the health of ecosystems and the state of biodiversity.

The LPI only looks at the population of vertebrates: birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. The latest survey looked at how populations have changed between 1970 and 2018. The results are that populations of these animal groups have declined by an average of 69% over that 48-year period.

This result highlights a very real and very severe crisis of biodiversity loss. However, it does not mean that there are 2/3 fewer animals today than 48 years ago. The way the index is calculated is to look at the changes in individual populations of over 5,000 different species. Then these individual relative declines are averaged to get the result.

There are shortcomings in the LPI. For example, individual species that have seen massive population declines will bring the average down. But even removing the outliers both of a negative and a positive impact does not dramatically change the result.

There is no perfect indicator for biodiversity and ecosystem health. The Living Planet Index is nonetheless a useful metric and indicates that many species around the world are in decline. Policymakers and environmental advocates need to make decisions about conservation and protection measures and this index is one tool they can use.

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There’s a frightening new report about wildlife declines. But many are getting the story wrong.

Photo, posted October 12, 2019, courtesy of Visit Rwanda via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Reshaping Our Planet | Earth Wise

July 12, 2022 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Human activity – especially agriculture – has altered 70% of the land on our planet. According to a new report from the United Nations, damage to the Earth’s lands has put the planet on “crisis footing”.

Our health, our economy, and our well-being depend on land. The food we eat, the water we drink, and the air we breathe all rely on status of the land to at least some extent.

According to the report, up to 40% of the planet’s land is already degraded, affecting half of the people alive today. At current rates, an additional area nearly the size of South America will be degraded by 2050.

Degradation of land occurs in various ways, including deforestation, desertification, and the loss of wetlands or grasslands. All of these things are caused by human activities. As forests, savannas, wetlands, and mangrove swamps are converted to agriculture or are lost to urban expansion, greenhouse gas emissions rapidly increase, adding to the effects of climate change. The climate crisis, biodiversity loss, and land degradation are integrally linked.

Much of the blame for degraded landscapes is on humanity’s ever-expanding need for food and the modern farming systems that produce it. The global food system is responsible for 80% of the world’s deforestation, 70% of freshwater use, and is the greatest driver of land-based biodiversity loss. Modern agriculture has altered the face of the planet more than any other human activity.

The report urges efforts at restoration of land. Restoration can take multiple forms, including planting forests and shrubs or grazing livestock and growing crops between trees instead of clearing existing forests.

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UN Report Says Humanity Has Altered 70 Percent of the Earth’s Land, Putting the Planet on a ‘Crisis Footing’

Photo, posted June 20, 2010, courtesy of Nicholas A. Tonelli via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Synthetic Palm Oil | Earth Wise

February 18, 2022 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Palm oil is the world’s cheapest and most widely used vegetable oil. Producing it is a primary driver of deforestation and biodiversity loss in the tropics. In Borneo, for example, oil palm cultivation has accounted for more than half of all deforestation over the past two decades. More than one million square miles of biodiversity hotspots could be threatened by oil palm cultivation, which could potentially affect more than 40% of all threatened bird, mammal, and amphibian species.

Today, the world consumes over 70 million tons of palm oil each year, used in products ranging from toothpaste and oat milk to biodiesel and laundry detergent.

Given this situation, there are now multiple companies developing microbial oils that might offer an alternative to palm oil while avoiding its most destructive impacts.

A company called C16 Biosciences is working on the problem in Manhattan, backed by $20 million from a Bill Gates’ climate solutions investment fund. A California-based startup called Kiverdi is working to manufacture yeast oil using carbon captured from the atmosphere.

Xylome, a Wisconsin-based startup is working to produce a palm oil alternative that they call “Yoil”, produced by a proprietary strain of yeast. The oil from the yeast strain is remarkably similar to palm oil.

The challenge is to be able to produce microbial oils at large scale and at a competitive price. Unless valuable co-products could be manufactured along with the oil, it may be difficult to compete with palm oil. Without regulatory pressures and willingness of consumers to pay more, it may be difficult to replace palm oil in many of its applications.

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Can Synthetic Palm Oil Help Save the World’s Tropical Forests?

Photo, posted December 9, 2008, courtesy of Fitri Agung via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

How To Bend The Curve On Biodiversity Loss | Earth Wise

October 15, 2020 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Biodiversity has been declining at an alarming rate in recent years as a result of human activities, including land use changes, pollution, and climate change. According to a 2019 UN report, one million species – out of an estimated eight million – are threatened with extinction. Many scientists warn we are in the middle of the sixth mass extinction event in Earth’s history. Previous mass extinction events wiped out up to 95% of all species and took ecosystems millions of years to recover.

Fortunately, new research indicates that it might not be too late to bend the curve on biodiversity loss. According to the report, which was recently published in the journal Nature, more ambitious conservation measures are needed in order to preserve biodiversity. In addition, more efficient food production and healthier and less wasteful consumption and trade are needed to bend the curve.

If these measures are undertaken with unprecedented ambition and coordination, the research team says the efforts will provide an opportunity to reverse biodiversity loss by 2050.

But even under the best case scenario, ongoing land conversion will lead to further biodiversity losses before the curve starts to bend. In fact, at least one third of projected losses in the coming years are unlikely to be avoided under any scenario. Biodiversity losses were projected to be highest in the regions richest in biodiversity, including South Asia, Southeast Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean, and Latin America.

The study, which was led by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Austria, makes it clear that urgent action is needed this decade in order to have any chance of bending the curve.

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Curbing land clearing for food production is vital to reverse biodiversity declines

Photo, posted November 1, 2017, courtesy of Rod Waddington via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Land Use Change And Flooding | Earth Wise

September 30, 2020 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Land use change refers to the conversion of a piece of land’s use by humans from one purpose to another. Land use change is commonly associated with biodiversity loss and increased greenhouse gas emissions. But how does land use change impact water cycles?

According to researchers from the University of Göttingen in Germany, IPB University, and BMKG (both in Indonesia), the expansion of monocultures, such as rubber and oil palm plantations, leads to more frequent and more severe flooding. The researchers explain the increase in flooding “with a complex interplay of ecohydrological and social processes, including soil degradation in monocultures, the expansion of oil palm plantations into wetlands, and the construction of flood protection dams.”

For the study, which was recently published in the journal Ecology & Society, the research team interviewed nearly 100 Indonesian farmers, villagers, and decision-makers in Sumatra. The team supplemented its research with data on precipitation, river and groundwater levels, soil properties, and regional mapping.

During large-scale land use change – like plantation expansions – newly-compacted soil causes rainwater to runoff as opposed to being absorbed. As more plantations are established in floodplains, the owners try to control flooding on their land by building barriers. But these dams often lead to increased flooding on neighboring lands. This understandably triggers social tensions between other farmers and plantation owners.

In order to reduce the negative impact of land use change on the water cycle, the research team suggests soil protection and improved planning – especially in floodplains – would be a good place to start.

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Land use change leads to increased flooding in Indonesia

Photo, posted October 8, 2018, courtesy of Artem Beliaikin via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Livestock Expansion And Global Pandemics | Earth Wise

August 18, 2020 By EarthWise 1 Comment

The domestication of cows, pigs, chickens, and other animals as livestock for their meat, milk, and eggs was historically revolutionary. It boosted food security by giving people a readily-available means of feeding themselves as opposed to more traditional methods such as hunting and fishing.

But animal agriculture has plenty of drawbacks. The industrialization of animal agriculture has led to horrendous conditions. Animals are kept in huge quantities and packed together with little regard for their health and welfare. This approach to agriculture is simply designed to maximize production while minimizing costs.

With its chemical inputs and toxic outputs, intensive animal agriculture is also a major threat to the environment. In fact, it’s a major driver of habitat degradation and biodiversity loss all around the globe.

But it’s not just animals and the planet that pay a price. Humans have inherited several lethal pathogens from livestock over the years, including the influenza virus that likely jumped to humans from poultry.

According to a study recently published in Biological Conservation, there is a connection between the global increase in the emergence of infectious diseases and epidemics, the accelerated loss of biodiversity, and the expansion of livestock. In the study, the research team from the Institute of Evolution Sciences of Montpellier cross referenced databases on human and animal health, livestock expansion, and biodiversity loss between 1960-2019. The team found that the number of epidemics identified in humans increased in correlation with both biodiversity loss and livestock expansion.

In the era of COVID-19, it’s important to understand how global livestock expansion directly threatens both human health and the health of the planet.

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Livestock expansion is a factor in global pandemics

Photo, posted July 22, 2018, courtesy of Artem Beliakin via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.