From circulating nutrients throughout an ecosystem to aerating soils and engineering rivers, animals and plants play important roles in maintaining nature’s vibrancy.
Humans could not live in a world devoid of animals and plants.
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) says that 45,300 species—more than a quarter of all known species—are now in danger of extinction.
The red wolf in the United States, the northern white rhinoceros in Africa, and the Mexico’s vaquita porpoise are all on the verge of extinction.
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) reports that global monitored populations of wild animals had decreased by 73% since 1970.
On March 20, 2018, Najin (front) and Patu, the remaining two female northern white rhinos, graze in their enclosure at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Laikipia National Park, Kenya. Reuters/Baz Ratner/File Photo Forests Scientists consider deforestation levels to be a good proxy for the destruction of nature because forests house the majority of plant and animal species in any ecosystem, including 68 percent of mammal species.
By 2030, more than 100 nations committed to halting deforestation and the degradation of woodlands.
According to the Forest Declaration Assessment, an annual analysis that is released by a coalition of research and civil society organizations, as of 2023, the amount of land that had been deforested was 45 percent higher than where it should be to meet the goal set in 2030.
