A study published on Thursday on the Current Biology journal has shown that, in the last 2 decades, the wilderness loss has reached an alarming percentage.
To reveal this study the researchers compared global maps from 1990’ and 2016. These global maps show that the loss is not the same in every part of the World. For example, the most affected area is in South America, that has a 30% wilderness loss.
- The Earth lost 20% of its wilderness
- By this issue are affected both animals and humans
- The focus should be on both the affected and intact areas
- The climate could change if there is no solution
- The most affected area is South America
The parts of the World that hold the biggest wilderness rate are North America, North Asia, Africa and Australia
The wilderness is explained by James Watson, a professor at University of Queensland, as an area that has not been “touched” by the man.
Some of the tropical and subtropical forest have change their appearance already and in a few years we will have nothing to study because there will be no biodiversity.
A bigger issue now is the life of the animals that have been affected by the wilderness loss, the animals that habitat there. Due to this problem the animals face extinction, many species may disappear if the problem is not resolved soon.
Letting aside the species extinction, the Earth is facing another problem, that of climate change.
The forests provides the biggest resource of oxygen and absorption of carbon. Now that they can’t do that the climate will change because of the larger amount of carbon in the air.
This wilderness loss is an important issue to everybody because it could affect the lives of both animals and humans. The writer of the study explains that people should protect the environment and that the government should also make some changes in the legislation. These changes can make the World a better place if they are made constantly
The researchers also say that the attention sould be focused on both affected areas and intact ones because if the intact areas are let aside they will degrade in time.
What is your opinion about the wilderness loss in the World? How do you think it will affect us in the future?
Image source: Wikipedia
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