Why in News

The sixth mass extinction of life on Earth is unfolding more quickly than feared, scientists have warned.

What is the issue ?

• More than 30% of animals with a backbone fish, birds, amphibians, reptiles and mammals are declining in both range and population.
• Around a decade ago, experts feared that a new planetary wipeout of species was looming.
• Mammal species that were monitored have lost at least a third of their original habitat.
• Forty per cent of mammals including rhinos, orangutans, gorillas and many big cats are surviving on 20% or less of the land they once roamed.
• On an average, two vertebrate species disappear every year.
• The main drivers of wildlife decline are habitat loss, overconsumption, pollution, invasive species, disease, as well as poaching in the case of tigers, elephants, rhinos and other large animals prized for their body parts.

Source : The Hindu

GS III : Environmental impact assessment