Extinction is inevitable in the globalized world
Aishwarya Maheshwari
Department of Wildlife Sciences, College of Forestry, Banda University
of Agriculture and Technology, Banda-210001, Uttar Pradesh, India (ORCID
ID: 0000-0002-6338-4254)
Corresponding author:
aishwaryamaheshwari@icloud.com
Extinction is a natural process and every species on this planet has an
expiration date except Homo sapiens because we are extending our
expiry at the cost of other species (Brook and Alroy 2017, Pimm et al.
2014, Ceballos et al. 2015). In contrast, biodiversity loss is not
natural but a global issue and it is not caused by the globalization,
but as a result of human activities at the global level (Pimm et al.
2014, Ceballos et al. 2015). Eventually, severe biodiversity losses lead
to anthropogenic die-off and extinction of naturally occurring species
(Pimm et al. 2014, Ceballos et al. 2015, DeVos et al. 2014). The
previous, current and future extinction rates have been estimated using
a variety of measures and their estimation methodologies vary (to be
between 100 to 10,000 times higher than the natural extinction rate) but
they clearly demonstrate that current extinction rates are far above
than the “background” rates (Brook and Alroy 2017, Pimm et al. 2014,
Ceballos et al. 2015, DeVos et al. 2014, Lamkin and Miller 2016).
Aggravatedly, population declines and extirpations are appearing to be
more graving than species extinction and negative cascading consequences
on ecosystem services (Ceballosa et al. 2020). Substantial information
is available on over-exploitation of natural resources by humans in the
globalization perspective (Ceballosa et al. 2020, Millennium Ecosystem
Assessment, 2005, Groom et al. 2006, Ehrnfeld 2003) and we have lost an
estimated US$ 4-20 trillion per year in ecosystem services owing to
land-cover change and US$ 6-11 trillion per year from land degradation
during 1997 to 2011 (OECD 2019). Such loss also leads to an increased
disease risk (Gilbert 2010) and recent coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19)
might be one of the similar consequences.
Furthermore, such degraded ecosystems are either slow to recover or have
lost their natural vigor to recover even after their exploitation stops
(Moreno-Mateos et al. 2017). For example, global demand for food through
agriculture expansion is one of the major causes of destruction and
degradation of natural ecosystems and biodiversity loss and it restricts
restoration of biodiversity on agricultural land (FAO 2010).
At present, climate change, biodiversity, environment and wildlife
conservation are on the highest priority of several international
treaties, conventions and national and international laws and
legislations, however, the failures have been spectacular (Hoffmann et
al. 2010). It is beyond doubt that we are facing sixth mass extinction
in the Earth’s 4.5 billion years of history (Ceballos et al. 2015,
Ceballosa et al. 2020). In many cases, it has been purposeful and the
global biodiversity suffers from similar threats globally such as
pollution, climate change, unregulated and unsustainable harvesting of
natural resources, the international trade of invasive species and
diseases, habitat fragmentation, deforestation and urbanization.
Unarguably, there is an ever-increasing demand of natural resources and
their overexploitation in the past two centuries has accelerated the
pace of extinction and now it appears unmanageable to alter “the Great
Dying” in recent times.
Biodiversity is the major part of livelihoods that is susceptible to
changes in globalization, especially the changes brought about by over
exploitation of natural resources. An Indian civilization philosophy of
“Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” – the whole world is one family – may
underpin the agenda of biodiversity conservation at the global level.
Biodiversity conservation and globalization cannot remain isolated but
need to become part of more integrated strategies for sustainable
development that question hegemonic development paradigms.