Hope? There is always hope. But we do live in very turbulent times. You need only pay passing attention to the major global news networks to grasp the uncertain, unstable nature of the world we live in. Just as depressing is the deep undertow of events pulling so many of the animals and plants of this cosmic speck, maybe us included, into the planet’s “sixth major extinction event”.
Scientists are so worried about this threat that they have abandoned their usual scientific reserve and have labelled it a “biological annihilation”. The World Wide Fund for Nature’s 2016 Living Planet Report is perhaps a little more restrained but nevertheless warns of dire consequences: “Unless we take immediate action… Earth will become much less hospitable to our modern globalised society.”
The AWF is using drones in northern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to monitor the area and detect poachers Image credit Alain Lushimba / African Wildlife Foundation