Rate of Destruction

Only 4 countries, Australia, Brazil, Canada and Russia, are home to 60% of what is left of our untouched, wild places on this planet. These, of course, include some of the places where conservation of the natural environment is (because of political pressures) most difficult. The rate at which wilderness is being destroyed is clearly illustrated by a very substantial satellite imagery study showing that, in the last 13 years, 1.9m square kilometres of intact ecosystems have been heavily modified (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/sep/19/shocking-wilderness-the-size-of-mexico-lost-worldwide-in-just-13-years-study-finds). As the authors graphically point out, this is an area the size of Mexico. The type of habitat most frequently being converted by human activity (with a loss of their biodiversity), is tropical savannah and grasslands. On a planetary-wide basis, the study found that 20% of the Earth's surface had shown marked deterioration over this time period, whereas only 6% had shown some improvememt. As the authors point out, now is not a good time (because of climate change) to be destroying our remaining wild places (which help limit 'greenhouse gas' emissions).