A report by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), released today, has found that with the accelerating global biodiversity crisis, a million species of plants and animals are facing extinction. The report says that humans depend on 50,000 wild species for various things, including food, energy, medicine, material and other purposes, directly depend on 10,000 species for food and that over-exploitation is one of the main reasons for biodiversity degradation. The IPBES Assessment Report on the Sustainable Use of Wild Species has been carried out over four years by 85 leading experts from the natural and social sciences, and holders of indigenous and local knowledge, as well as 200 contributing authors, drawing on more than 6,200 sources. The summary of the report was approved this week by representatives of the 139 member states of IPBES in Bonn, Germany. People all over the world directly use about 7,500 species of wild fish and aquatic invertebrates, 31,100 wild plants, of which 7,400 species are trees, 1,500 species of fungi, 1,700 species of wild terrestrial invertebrates and 7,500 species of wild amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. Wild plants, algae and fungi provide food, nutritional diversity and income for an estimated one in five people around the world, in particular women, children, landless farmers and others in vulnerable situations. Trade in wild plants, algae and fungi for food, medicine, hygiene, energy and ornamental use is increasing, finds the report, with a growing demand for wild foods in the food and aromatics industries, including among fine dining and haute cuisine establishments, and among urban populations. There is also a growing interest and ongoing demand for products produced at least in part from harvested wild plants and fungi, to complement chemical medicines and trade in ornamental plants has increased rapidly over the past 40 years. Approximately 2.4 billion people, or one-third of the global population, rely on fuel wood for cooking and an estimated 880 million people globally log firewood or produce charcoal, particularly in developing countries. Globally, wild tree species provide two thirds of industrial roundwood and half of all wood consumed for energy. Small-scale fisheries support over 90% of the 120 million people and about half of the people involved in small-scale fisheries are women. Fisheries constitute a major source of food from wild species, with a total annual harvest of 90 million tonne over recent decades of which about 60 million tonne go to direct human consumption and the rest as feed for aquaculture and livestock. The report finds that 34% of marine wildlife is overfished. In countries which practise sustainable fishing, stocks have actually increased, says the report. “People in vulnerable situations are often most reliant on wild species and are most likely to benefit from more sustainable forms of use of wild species to secure their livelihoods. An estimated 70% of the world’s poor depend directly on wild species and on businesses fostered by them,’’says the report. Over-exploitation has been identified as the main threat to wild species in marine ecosystems and the second greatest threat to those in terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems. Unsustainable fishing is the main cause for the increased extinction risk of sharks and rays over the past half century. Unsustainable hunting has been identified as a threat for 1,341 wild mammal species, including 669 species that were assessed as threatened. An estimated 12% of wild tree species are threatened by unsustainable logging and unsustainable gathering is one of the main threats for several plant groups, notably cacti, cycads, and orchids as well as other plants and fungi harvested for medicinal purposes. “Overall, unsustainable harvest contributes towards elevated extinction risk for 28-29% of near-threatened and threatened species from 10 taxonomic groups assessed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species,” the report adds.
