Protecting Earth’s Irreplaceable Species—The Time is Now!

Abstract

During five previous mass extinction events, many of Earth’s species died out in a relatively short period of time–like the dinosaurs did 66 million years ago. Scientists believe that Earth is currently experiencing another mass extinction, the sixth such event, but the first to be caused by human activities. This is a wake-up call: over a million species could vanish during our lifetimes! But there is hope: we can save many species by protecting their homes, especially in tropical places where many unique animals and plants live. This article will explain how some of the spots that are currently protected fail to capture all of the places where these at-risk species actually live. To complete the safety net of protection, we must focus on other important areas, called Conservation Imperatives sites, which contain many threatened species but only cover a tiny part of the Earth’s surface. Saving these spots is urgent, and luckily it is not as expensive as you might think. Time is running out, and the sooner we start, the better our chances of preventing many animals and plants from disappearing forever.