the preachy site with the bulky name (ysmad.com)

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On species and their extinction

Our site's main concern and reason why we started ysmad.com. To put this into relation to other concerns (like global warming, pollution etc.): species extinction is considered the environmental issue exceeding sustainability by the highest percentage (see e.g. magazine "Scientific American" April 2010, article "Boundaries for a healthy planet").

27,000 species are being lost each year

"A conservative estimate of the current extinction rate indicates that about 27,000 species a year are being lost."

[National Wildlife Federation according to "Web of Creation" ]

A wild guess? I think it's from a trustworthy source: it seems to be taken from Edward Wilson, "The diversity of Life". Of course there is a high uncertainty in this number. But where is your threshhold what rate is no longer acceptable? A hundred species a year? A thousand? Ten thousand? A hundred thousand? One?

Wriggle out option 1: We humans have the right to "make use" of this planet! Click

Wriggle out option 2: Why care - it does us no harm and nature will regenerate! Click

Every day, 100 plant and animal species are lost to deforestation

"Every day, an estimated 100 plant and animal species are lost to deforestation"

[National Wildlife Federation according to "Web of Creation" ]

Every day! Only to deforestation. Holy! :-(
This by the way is no contradiction to the previous claim - it's just an a little less conservative estimate. If you look up the '27,000' in Wilson's book (at the end of chapter 12), also this is only specific to deforestation, with "cautious parameters, selected in a biased manner to draw a maximally optimistic conclusion".

Every year, 13 million hectares of tropical forest disappear

"Every year, 13 million hectares of tropical forest - an area the size of Illinois - disappear in smoke and as lumber. (...) Thousands of species disappear forever."

[Movie "Home", Yann Arthus-Bertrand, 2009 ]

35% of all freshwater species are gone

"35% of all freshwater species [are] gone"

[Conservation International clip "Fresh Water: The Essence of Life" ]

One-third of Earth's habitats have been damaged by humans

"(...) on average one-third of Earth's habitats have been damaged by humans - with, for example, 85% of seas and oceans and more than 70% of Mediterranean shrubland affected."

[The Guardian reporting on a study "The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB)", 05/2010 ]

50% of all wetlands are lost

"50% of all wetlands [are] lost"

[Conservation International clip "Fresh Water: The Essence of Life" ]

13 million acres of forest lost in Africa each year

"Africa has the highest deforestation rate in the world, and lost 13 million acres (5.3m hectares) of forest each year in the 1990s."

[Site 'missionariesofafrica.org', 07/2009 ]

This page of the 'Missionaries of Africa' we found by an odd chance, but well - another statistic. Note only: we are assuming "highest" here is meant not in relation to total land and/or originally forested area (which would be more expressive i.m.o.), but "highest" as an absolute number.
If you are surprised to see us quote missionaries here: rightfully so. See our page about religion on ysmad.com.

Extinction rates are rising by a factor of up to 1,000 above natural rates

"Extinction rates are rising by a factor of up to 1,000 above natural rates. Every hour, three species disappear. Every day, up to 150 species are lost. Every year, between 18,000 and 55,000 species become extinct. The cause: human activities."

[Ahmed Djoghlaf, head of the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity, in a message 5/22/2007 ]

Within 120 years fish stocks have declined by 94 percent

"Overfishing of England's and Wales' fisheries has reached dramatic proportions: within 120 years fish stocks have declined by 94 percent. Scientists believe that in other European waters it does not look better."

[Article about almost emptied British fisheries on "spiegel.de", 5/4/2010 ]

You consider this impossible and overdramatization? I suggest reading Farley Mowat's "Sea of Slaughter" with an detailed account of mass-killing of fisheries (and other sea life) around Newfoundland.

Three-quarters of fishing grounds are exhausted

"Since 1950, fishing catches have increased fivefold, from 18 to 100 million metric tons a year. Thousands of factory ships are emptying the oceans. Three-quarters of fishing grounds are exhausted, depleted or in danger of being so. Most large fish have been fished out of existence (...)"

[Movie "Home", Yann Arthus-Bertrand, 2009 ]

One in every six land mammals in Europe under threat of extinction

"The World Conservation Union (...) said that one in every six land mammals in Europe was under threat of extinction (...)"

[According to a Reuters article "U.N. urges world to slow extinctions", 5/22/07 ]

Extinction rates exceed the supposed natural extinction rate 100-1000 times

"The current global extinction rate of species exceed the supposed natural extinction rate by the factor 100 to 1000."

[German Federal Office of Environmental Protection, 2008 ]

Classified with extinction: 32.5 percent of amphibians, 12 percent of reptiles, 23 percent of birds, 23 percent of mammals

"In 2004 (...) 32.5 percent of amphibian species worldwide were classified as threatened with extinction, compared with 12 percent of reptiles, 23 percent of birds, and 23 percent of mammals."

[E.O. Wilson, The Creation - An Appeal to save Life on Earth]

So far only about 40,000 species have been examined for their conservation status

"(...) experts believe there are around 15 million species. Currently known and described are around 1.8 million, so far around 40,000 species have been examined for their conservation status."

[German Federal Office of Environmental Protection, 2008 ]

These "15 million" appear to be a very vague number - estimates go between a few million to more than 100 million. What can be derived though: we have described only a fraction of all species yet, and a fraction of the fraction we examined for their conservation status. And with all likelyhood (my opinion) we are detecting "new" species at a slower rate than we exterminate them. What a shame for homo "sapiens".

At a loss rate of 2% each year, mangroves could be extinct in 100 years

"Between the early 1980s and 2001, between 19 and 35 percent of the world's mangrove forest area was lost. At this rate of loss--about 2 percent each year--mangroves could be extinct in 100 years."

["Science News" referring to IUCN, 7/1/2009 ]

Caribbean coral reefs are already 80 percent destroyed

"Caribbean coral reefs are already 80 percent destroyed"

[German Federal Office of Environmental Protection, 2008 ]

Each year around one million sea birds and 100,000 sea mammals get entangled in plastic garbage or get intoxicated with it

"Scientists estimate, that each year around one million sea birds and 100,000 sea mammals get entangled in plastic garbage or get intoxicated with it."

[Spiegel Online 4/14/09 ]

Annually, 300,000 whales and dolphins die in fishing nets

"Annually, 300,000 whales and dolphins die in fishing nets; annually, 100 million sharks die each year as bycatch; annually, 250,000 sea turtles perish as bycatch."

[WWF video "Beifang - Eine mörderische Verschwendung", 03/2009 ]

Mind you, these numbers are only attributed to bycatch.
Many of the species affected are endangered already - e.g. all species of sea turtles! Mostly we read bycatch is estimated to a catch/bycatch ratio of 2:1 overall, but for single species like shrimp it gets as inefficient as 1:4 [sic!]. (You can even find claims for insane shrimp-bycatch-ratios of 1:15! We refused to believe this, hoping it's exaggerated*.)
Additionally to these numbers you can read on WWF-pages, that an estimated 300,000 sea birds die as a consequence of traditional longline-fishing. It's a mess. Truly. Go veggie more often.
* Here the text passage: "Hall et al. (2000) reported that the shrimp trawl fishery generates more by-catch than any known world fishery and presents an average shrimp by-catch ratio of between 1:3 and 1:15 in the tropics."

At least 12 million wild animals are poached in Brazil each year

"(...) at least 12 million wild animals are poached there [in Brazil] each year."

[A report in the Smithsonian magazine December 2009, referring to Brazil's Institute of Environment and Natural Resources]

The magazine article goes on: "Animals ripped from their habitat suffer, of course. They are smuggled in thermoses and nylon stockings, stuffed into toilet paper tubes, hair curlers and hubcaps. (...) most captured wild animals die before reaching a buyer."

Not enough yet?
Here are hundreds of these stories: "Mass extinction underway"

Trailer "Call of Life"

Save.

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