Humans have been damaging natural ecosystems since the dawn of modern time, but new research suggests not all of these changes are irreversible.
A global network of contributors submitted data from every continent, creating the most complete picture of the effects of human land use to date, the Natural History Museum reported. The findings looked at changes in biodiversity from 1500 until the present day, and included reviews of over 280 publications and 26,593 species.
The study showed that by the year 2005, human land use had caused a 14 percent decrease in the number of species found in local ecosystems when compared to the pre-industrial era; the majority of this loss occurred during only the last century.
"The worst-case scenario we have mapped would have a severe impact upon most regions of the planet. Our models predict that rapid agricultural expansion, particularly in poorer countries, will cause rapid further losses of biodiversity. However, other scenarios give a much more positive outcome for biodiversity, especially for poorer countries," said lead author of the study, Tim Newbold of UNEP's World Conservation Monitoring Centre.
The findings showed the most strongly affected regions lost one in three of their species, which was enough to have a severe impact on the local ecosystem. They concluded most future biodiversity loss will occur in economically poor countries that have high biodiversity rates.
"These findings are a significant milestone in understanding our impact on the planet. They show that what happens next is completely down to us. If we carry on as we are, numbers of species will fall by nearly 3.5 [percent] on average by 2100. But if society takes concerted action, and reduces climate change by valuing forests properly, then by the end of the century we can undo the last 50 years of damage to biodiversity on land," said lead scientist, Andy Purvis of London's Natural History Museum.
The findings were published in a recent edition of the journal Nature.
