Nearly 90 percent of land-like species will lose part of their habitat by 2050

BEIJING, Dec. 21 (Xinhua Zhang Mengran) According to a new report published in the British journal Nature Sustainability, a simulation conducted by British scientists shows that by 2050, nearly 90 percent of the world's land-based vertebrate species could lose part of their habitat as humans reclaim land to meet future food needs. However, these threats can be reduced by adopting active policies that focus on the manner, location and type of food production.
habitat loss caused by agricultural expansion is a major threat to land-made vertebrates. Based on projections of population growth and dietary needs, humans will need to reclaim 2 to 10 million square kilometres of new farmland at the expense of natural habitats.
traditional methods of protection may not be sufficient to address these trends. In order to adequately respond to the coming "biodiversity crisis", thousands of species need to be assessed for specific locations and species to identify the species and terrain most at risk.
report, scientists David Williams, Michael Clarke and colleagues at the University of Leeds in the UK developed a model that increases the breadth and specificity of current conservation analysis. The team looked at the impact of possible agricultural expansion on nearly 20,000 species and found that, based on current trajectories, 87.7 percent (17409) of land-based birds, amphibians and mammalian species in the analysis could lose some habitat by 2050, with about 1,200 species expected to lose more than 25 percent of their remaining habitat. The largest loss of average habitat is expected to be in sub-Saharan Africa, brazil's Atlantic forests, eastern Argentina and parts of South and South-East Asia.
However, studies have also shown that proactive policies, such as increasing agricultural production, transitioning to healthier diets and reducing food waste, can bring considerable benefits, with different approaches affecting different regions.
May 6, 2019, the Global Assessment Report, released by the Intergovernmental Science And Policy Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), shocked the world by warning that 1 million species could become extinct in the coming decades. The report attacked the destructive effects of man on nature on land, in the sea and in the sky. Robert Watson, chairman of IPBES, said the health of the ecosystems on which humans and other species depend was deteriorating at an unprecedented rate and that saving the planet required "transformational change".