A recent New York Times headline provides what might be the best summation of the biodiversity crisis: “Animals Are Running Out of Places to Live.” The world has lost half of its natural ecosystems, and wildlife populations have shrunk by an average of 68% since 1970. Why? As the Times article neatly puts it, “Humans are taking over too much of the planet, erasing what was there before.”
Although the UN’s biodiversity conference and the resulting global agreement to restore and protect 30% of the world’s land and ocean ecosystems by 2030 (known as “30x30”) are welcome steps forward, the general response has been “Fingers crossed.” When it comes to international treaties regarding urgent environmental concerns, including the previous global biodiversity pact, our species has a spectacular record of not following through.
The good news is that we don’t have to wait and hope for other nations—or even our own government—to take action. Each of us, by virtue of being one of the 8 billion people on the planet, is partly responsible for taking up space formerly occupied by other animals, and each of us can have a role in ecosystem restoration.
