The man-made biodiversity crisis

One in five European animal and plant species is threatened with extinction. This is the conclusion of an international study published in the specialist magazine PLOS One.

The researchers included all 14,669 animal and plant species in the study that were on the Red List for Europe at the end of 2020 – one in ten species on the continent. 2,839 of the 14,669 species examined are threatened with extinction. Invertebrate species – such as butterflies and bees – are particularly at risk.

Two million species are threatened with extinction worldwide

The researchers warn that the loss of biodiversity is likely to be even more explosive in other, far more species-rich regions – especially in the insufficiently researched tropical regions of Asia and Africa. Due to newer and more accurate information, the team also had to revise the number of globally threatened species upwards. At two million, it is twice as high as in the 2019 IPBES report.

Some species – destroyed faster than researched

Many species, especially among the invertebrates, have not yet been described. Assessing what condition they are in is therefore more difficult.

3 main causes of species extinction

What is, however, very well described are the causes of species extinction. The biggest destroyers of biodiversity are:
- Intensive economic use of land and sea, leading to habitat loss
- Overuse of biological resources
- Extreme weather conditions – caused by man-made climate change

The Restoration Law has been giving hope since February 28, 2024 – the world's first law for the comprehensive renaturation of damaged ecosystems. And while it is sad that a law is needed to restore our livelihoods, we are pleased that concrete, measurable targets have been set to restore the livelihoods that are at stake.

We have summarized here what companies can do – not only in view of the CSRD – on a large and small scale to support biodiversity and the preservation of ecosystems.