How to reverse global wildlife declines by 2050

Wildlife populations have plummeted by 68% since 1970. But we have a plan to turn things around.

Piero Visconti, Research Scholar, Ecosystem Services and Management Programme, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) • conversation
Sept. 14, 2020 • ~6 min
conservation biodiversity agriculture wildlife ecosystem-services ecosystems biodiversity-loss sixth-mass-extinction food-systems

Protecting half of the planet is the best way to fight climate change and biodiversity loss – we've mapped the key places to do it

A new plan targets areas around the world that can store carbon and protect large numbers of species. It calls for preserving these lands, working with Indigenous peoples and connecting wild areas.

Greg Asner, Director, Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science and Professor, Arizona State University • conversation
Sept. 8, 2020 • ~9 min

 climate-change  conservation  biodiversity  indigenous-peoples  endangered-species  ecosystems  wildlife-corridors  earth-observation  sixth-mass-extinction  paris-climate-accord  monitoring  connectivity

Don't blame cats for destroying wildlife – shaky logic is leading to moral panic

Framing cats as responsible for declines in biodiversity is based on faulty scientific logic and fails to account for the real culprit – human activity.

Francisco J. Santiago-Ávila, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Wisconsin-Madison • conversation
July 30, 2020 • ~7 min
conservation biodiversity birds ethics mice science australia rats cats sixth-mass-extinction conservation-biology logic justice moral-panic predator compassion apex-predators habitat-degradation

Evolution: why it seems to have a direction and what to expect next

Evolution seems to lead to increasing complexity of species. But perhaps a dominant, intelligent species like humans will always end up destroying itself.

Matthew Wills, Professor of Evolutionary Palaeobiology at the Milner Centre for Evolution, University of Bath • conversation
June 2, 2020 • ~8 min
evolution human-evolution alien-life sixth-mass-extinction

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