Biodiversity is the amount of variation of the different life forms within a set of species, ecosystem or the whole planet. Biodiversity is a vast topic. If you wish to know more about it, then please go through the following points:
What’s happening to biodiversity?
Source
Some of the species that are endangered are black rhino, przewalski’s horse, hibiscus fragilis and Tarzan’s chameleon. The extinct rate of species today is more than 100 times the level it was before humans walked the earth. It is a surprising fact that 19817 species are listed as endangered.
The secret life of garbage
In the US alone, 250 million tons of trash is produced each year and the Americans throw away enough amount of aluminium for the entire auto industry to build new cars for a year. The average family throws away 6 trees worth of paper every year. It is a fact that it takes 600 years for unrecycled plastic to break down.
The water problem
Source
About 700000 African children die every year from diarrhea which is caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation. As many as 2.5 Billion people in the world do not have access to adequate sanitation. 70% of a person’s body is made up of water and an average person can drink up to 48 cups of water in a day but he/she must drink about 9-13 cups of water.
The dangers of plastic bags
Source
1 trillion plastic bags are used worldwide per year which is roughly about 2 million plastic bags used per minute. About 100000 sea turtles die from strangulation by plastic bags each year. In the Pacific Ocean, there is a plastic soup which is twice the size of United States.
Steps to make a climate proof planet
Source
Toronto has designed weather alerts to protect vulnerable people from extreme temperatures whereas Uganda has started SMS weather warning system to let the fishermen know when to stay docked.
The battle for biodiversity
There are about 1.9 million described species out of which 16956 species are facing threat of extinction and 20-50 % species are predicted to be extinct within the next 100 years. There are a total of 17 Megadiverse countries in the world, some of which are India, Indonesia, United States, China, Philippines and Brazil.
How we are endangering animals
Source
Some of the reasons due to which animals are getting endangered are climate change, poaching and habitat loss. The Elephant population was halved in between 1981 and 1989 due to poaching and 80% of the Orangutans have disappeared in the last 100 years due to habitat loss.
Endangered species
Source
Ecuador has more than twice the amount of endangered species of plants than any other country whereas 71 species of birds have gone extinct in Hawaii ever since humans first arrived on the Islands.
Water and the 21st Century challenge
Source
The total amount of water on earth is 1424192640 cubic Km. Out of this 97.5% is salt water and 2.5% is fresh water. Out of the fresh water, 70% is frozen while 30% is found underground. By 2025, about 4 billion people will be facing water scarcity or flooding.
Turtles in the coral triangle
Source
There are 7 species of marine turtle species in the world out of which 6 species forage, breed or nest in the coral triangle. The Hawksbill turtle and the leatherback turtle are critically endangered while the Loggerhead and green turtle species are endangered.
How wild is North America?
Source
The largest mammal of North America is the American Bison while the smallest mammal is the American Pygmy Shrew. Canada accounts for a significant portion of the globe’s natural resources . It has got 24% of the global wild forests, 20% of the global fresh water and 24% of the global wetlands.
Groundwater: an endangered resource
Some of the threats faced by groundwater resource are pavement water diversion, groundwater pollution, irrigation, over consumption of water and loss of habitat.