Climate & Environment
Sixth Mass Extinction
The ongoing, human-driven extinction event — species loss at rates tens to hundreds of times background, comparable to the five prehistoric mass extinctions.
Definition
The sixth mass extinction is the ongoing loss of species at rates far above the background rate inferred from the fossil record — estimated at tens to hundreds of times higher — driven by human activity: habitat destruction, overexploitation, climate change, pollution and invasive species. Around one million species are threatened with extinction according to the IPBES Global Assessment (2019), and unlike previous mass extinctions this one has a single identifiable cause.
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