A massive extinction unparalleled since the age of the dinosaurs is now underway. Species that will never exist again are being lost at an alarming rate. The IUCN-World Conservation Union's 1996 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals reports that even though they track only a small portion of Earth's species the number of those that are endangered is astounding: it amounts to one in every four vertebrate species. Why is this happening? And, what does it mean for human life?

Ecosystems, for example as coral reefs, wetlands and tropical rainforests, form the complex web of life on earth. A healthy ecosystem is biologically diverse and better able to withstand shocks and stresses from climate change, pollution or rapid resource extraction. But many are experiencing intense stress and are in danger of collapse from increased resource extraction and waste generation. According to the WorldWatch Institute the main cause of species decline and ecosystem stress is habitat loss because of human activity—deforestation, large dam construction and so on—with over-exploitation of species being the second. The danger to human life is very real: as species and ecosystems decline, the resources that sustain human life are lost.

Meanwhile human systems—institutions, policies and activities—cannot change fast enough to stop the destruction. Past conservation efforts have not been effective enough. And it is still too soon to tell if efforts such as the recently negotiated Convention on Biological Diversity, which started an international process and forum for decisions about biodiversity, will be sufficient. Clearly action is needed on several fronts. Some organizations such as the United National Environment Programme are turning their attention to the consequences of trade on the world's biodiversity while many environmental organizations are monitoring species loss, building public awareness and campaigning for sustainable policies.

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In Depth
	Daily, Gretchen C., ed. Nature's services: Societal dependence on natural ecosystems. Washington, DC: Island Press, 1997. 392 p. Leakey, Richard and Roger Lewin. The sixth extinction: Patterns of life and the future of humankind. New York: Doubleday, 1995. 271 p.
Virtual Ideas
	Convention on Biological Diversity United Nations Environment Programme World Resources Institute Web site on biodiversity

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