Mass Extinction

Mass Extinction

1. Water Scarcity

   • About Water Scarcity
     • From all of the world’s water, only 3% is fresh water, out of which two-thirds are tucked away in glaciers or other unavailable places for our use
     • The water systems from which ecosystems and human populations rely on have become stressed and unable to provide as much
     • The patterns of weather and water have been altered around the world due to climate change
       • Causing:
         • Shortages and droughts in some places
         • Floods in others
     • At the current consumption rate, this situation will only get worse
     • It is predicted that by 2025, two-thirds of the world’s population may face water shortages
   • Impacts
     • Animals Impacted
       • Indus River Dolphin
       • Amazon River Dolphin
       • Ganges River Dolphin
       • Irrawaddy Dolphin
       • Yangtze Finless Porpoise
     • Some of the Places Impacted
       • Amazon
       • Yangtze
       • Madagascar
       • Southern Chile
   • Causes
     • Agriculture
       • Agriculture uses 70% of the world’s accessible freshwater, but more than half of this is wasted due to leaky irrigation systems, inefficient application methods as well as the cultivation of crops that are too thirsty for the environment in which they are grown
       • Many countries that produce large amounts of food—including India, China, Australia, Spain and the United States—have reached or are close to reaching their water resource limits

2. Oil and Gas Development

   • About Oil and Gas Development
     • The oil and gas exploration and development causes
       • Oil spills
         • Pose as a serious threat to the ecosystems.
         • The same features that have helped keep the Arctic’s lands and waters mostly unspoiled—freezing temperatures, severe weather, and sea ice for half the year—are also what make cleaning up an oil spill difficult, if not impossible
       • Disruption of migratory pathways
       • Degradation of important animal habitats
     • Extracting oil and gas deposits result in some long term damage on the environment
     • Oil spills can take place due to blowouts, pipeline leaks or failures, or accidents in shipping
   • Cause
     • Infrastructure
       • The construction of roads, pipelines, and buildings could all negatively affect important animal habitat, migratory pathways, and biodiversity
   • Impacts
     • Animals Impacted
       • Whales
       • Seals
       • Gorilla
       • Pacific Salmon
       • Polar Bear
     • Places Impacted
       • Arctic
       • Congo Basin

3. Deforestation

   • Causes
     • Fuelwood Harvesting
       • Illegal logging depresses the price of timber worldwide, disadvantaging law-abiding companies, and depriving governments of revenues normally generated by duties and taxes
       • Wood is a very common choice for cooking and heating, 1/2 of the illegal removal of timber is for fuelwood
     • Illegal Logging
       • Wood is a very common choice for cooking and heating, 1/2 of the illegal removal of timber is for fuelwood
   • About Deforestation
     • Comes in many forms
       • Fires
       • Clear-cutting for agriculture
       • Ranching and Development
       • Unsustainable logging for timber
       • Degradation due to climate change
     • Many of the world’s most threatened and endangered animals live in forests, and 1.6 billion people rely on
       • Benefits forests offered
         • Food
         • Fresh water
         • Clothing
         • Traditional medicine and shelter
   • Impacts
     • Some of the Animals Impacted
       • Amur Leopard
       • Asian Elephant
       • Bonobo
       • Giant Panda
       • Orangutan
       • Tree Kangaroo
       • Tiger
     • Some of the Places Impacted
       • Amazon
       • Madagascar
       • Southern Chile
       • Borneo and Sumatra

4. Infrastructure

   • Causes
     • Infrastructure for transportation, energy projects, and other developments that helps the modern society also harm the environment and biodiversity
     • OIL, GAS AND MINING FACILITIES
       • Many environmentally sensitive areas hold rich deposits of oil, gas, metals and other valuable natural resources
       • Developing infrastructure requires extracting of these resources can cause immense environmental damage
       • This includes the fragmentation and destruction of forests and other habitats, the interruption of migration routes, the draining of freshwater, and the erosion or pollution of the land
     • Water
       • Dams have have some large environmental impacts, contributing to the continuing loss in biodiversity
       • Small amounts of water diversion can leave a river basin vulnerable to drought in times of low rainfall. Wetlands may be destroyed, threats to already vulnerable species may increase, and communities that depend on the river basin may face consequences that include their displacement
   • Impacts
     • Animals Impacted
       • Arctic Wolf
       • Brown Bear
       • Cross River, Mountain, and Western Lowland Gorilla
       • Forest Elephant
       • Ganges River, Indus River, and Irrawaddy Dolphin
       • Pronghorn
     • Places Impacted
       • Greater Mekong
       • Arctic
       • Congo Basin
   • About Infrastructure
     • Physical structures that provides the foundation for modern society.
     • A necessary part of the growing population of people in the world
     • Comes with many devastating impacts on the environment
     • Specific examples:
       • Dams
       • Roads
       • Buildings

5. What is Mass Extinction?

   • Periodic rises in the extinction rate above the background level
   • Over 95% of all extinctions have occurred as background events