Extinct is Forever

This may become a reality in our lifetime. Ask Najin and Fatu, last two females of their soon-to-be-“once there were”-kind – northern white rhinos.

Since 1970 there has been a 70% decline in the populations of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians. 25% of animal and plant species are threatened with extinction. Extinction rate is 100 to 1,000 times the natural extinction rate.

Once spread across entire continents, wildlife populations in the last few decades have increasingly become patchy and fragmented into small pockets making them isolated, unhealthy and vulnerable. Habitat loss had distributed the 7,000 cheetahs left in nature to 23 different regions, separated by geographical and man-made barriers. To support conservation efforts we need to gather data, currently hardly available. Are we going to let them disappear on our watch?!

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Update: 2024 Nature Conservation Index is up! The NCI uses four key pillars and a framework of 25 performance indicators to provide a detailed, quantitative analysis of biodiversity and sustainability of 180 countries. The parameters cover a wide range of factors, including protected area coverage, species threat levels, conservation legislation, and projections of future trends.