Ecosystem Calamity: Climate Change and Pollution Threaten Biodiversity and Wildlife, Part 6 of a Multi-part Series

The 2024 Red List identified 163,040 species threatened with extinction. This number represented an increase of approximately 6,000 species over the previous year. Climate change is one of the most dangerous threats to many species. One example of this is the Yarrow’s spiny lizard, a species that has lived in the Mule Mountains of Arizona, USA, for millions of years. A recent study reported that deforestation, invasive species, and climate change have contributed to the disappearance of more than 1,400 bird species. One species, the Puerto Rican parrot-people, was already on the verge of extinction, with only 300 left in the wild. Deforestation is a major threat to all wildlife. Deforestation in Brazil’s Cerrado region, a vast tropical savannah renowned for its rich biodiversity, increased sharply in 2023 and overtook that of the Amazon. More than 1.11 million hectares were destroyed in 2023. This is an increase of 68% compared to the previous year. Throughout 2024, wildfires decimated thousands of hectares of the Pantanal. Experts estimate that 95% of these fires were started by animal-people livestock-raising operations. According to a study, in 2020, unprecedented fires caused the death of 17 million animals.

Our Most Gracious Supreme Master Ching Hai (vegan) has often warned about biodiversity loss and explained how it is primarily caused by animal-people livestock-raising operations. “Meat consumption has a huge destructive impact on biodiversity, which is essential for our Earth to function and thus must be preserved. No matter how small, each species has a role to help balance our ecosystem, scientifically proven. And yet, consumption of both fish-people and animal-people flesh continue, and are wreaking havoc on biodiversity around the globe.”