Food supply of billions under threat as a million species face extinction

The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) report, which was signed off by 193 member countries, examined the impact of wild species of plants, animals, fungi and algae around the world over four years.

Having revealed that one million species could be under threat in 2019, the IPBES scientists examined the fallout from those potential extinctions and dwindling numbers of flora and fauna.

Rural people living in developing countries are most at risk, as a lack of alternative food and energy sources compels them to keep relying on endangered species, said the report's co-chair, Dr Jean-Marc Fromentin of France.

"With about 50,000 wild species used through different practices, including more than 10,000 wild species harvested directly for human food, rural people in developing countries are most at risk from unsustainable use, with lack of complementary alternatives often forcing them to further exploit wild species already at risk," he added.

Some 70% of the world’s poor are directly dependent on wild species, co-chair Dr Marla R Emery of the US and Norway said.

"One in five people rely on wild plants, algae and fungi for their food and income. 2.4 billion rely on fuel wood for cooking and about 90% of the 120 million people working in capture fisheries are supported by small-scale fishing.

"But the regular use of wild species is extremely important not only in the Global South. From the fish that we eat, to medicines, cosmetics, decoration and recreation, wild species’ use is much more prevalent than most people realise.”

Wild species are an income source for millions worldwide, according to IPBES.

It said wild tree species account for two-thirds of global industrial roundwood, while trade in wild plants, algae and fungi is a billion-dollar industry. Tourism, based on observing wild species, is one of the main reasons that pre-Covid, protected areas globally received eight billion visitors and generated $600bn (€593bn) every year.

Recent global estimates confirm that about 34% of marine wild fish stocks are overfished, Dr Fromentin said.

"Countries with robust fisheries management have seen stocks increasing in abundance. The Atlantic bluefin tuna population, for instance, has been rebuilt and is now fished within sustainable levels. For countries and regions with low intensity fisheries management measures, however, the status of stocks is often poorly known, but generally believed to be below the abundance that would maximise sustainable food production."

Many small-scale fisheries are unsustainable or only partially sustainable, especially in Africa for both inland and marine fisheries, and in Asia, Latin America and Europe for coastal fisheries, he warned.

Around 12% of wild tree species are threatened by unsustainable logging, while unsustainable hunting has been identified as a threat for 1,341 wild mammal species, the report found.

Last month, at a national biodiversity forum in Dublin, Taoiseach Micheál Martin admitted political leaders have not taken the crisis seriously enough, despite ample warnings from environmental experts.

Mr Martin said it was a “great mistake of our species to think that we are separate from nature”, adding that the two challenges of climate change and the biodiversity crisis were intrinsically linked.

“Many of you have worked tirelessly to convince those of us in the political and policy spheres of the dangers to us as humans, and our way of life, of continued destruction of nature. It is fair to say that your message has not always been heeded.

“It is probably also fair to say that it is still not being adequately incorporated into our decision-making across so many spheres of activity, both globally and closer to home. But I do sense a deepening acceptance, a growing realisation, that our fortunes as a species and as a society, are inseparable from the fortunes of the natural world,” Mr Martin said.

He said that the chipping away of biodiversity and nature was largely done by stealth and that it has gone under the radar when it comes to headlines because of this low-key effect.

According to figures from the National Biodiversity Centre, some 31,000 species are known to occur in Ireland, but the conservation status of only about 10% has been assessed.

In 2019, the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) released Ireland's sixth national report to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, with stark findings that 91% of protected habitats are in poor or inadequate condition, and more than 50% are declining. Some 14% of species assessed are considered to be endangered, it said.