Wild species relied on by billions at risk, report warns

RIO DE JANEIRO — Every day billions of people depend on wild flora and fauna to obtain food, medicine and energy. The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services - or IPBES - report said Friday that unless humankind improves the sustainable use of nature, the Earth is on its way to losing 12% of its wild tree species, over a thousand wild mammal species and almost 450 species of sharks and rays, among other irreparable harm. Humans use about 50,000 wild species routinely and 1 out of 5 people of the world’s 7.9 billion population depend on those species for food and income, the report said. A central point should be to secure tenure rights for Indigenous and local peoples, who have historically made sustainable use of wild species, the report said. It worked so well that the model went to other communities and countries like Peru.” Gregorio Mirabal, the head of Coordinator of the Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin, who did not take part in the report, told the AP there had been already several U.N. studies stressing the importance of biodiversity and the threats posed by climate change, but they don’t bring about solutions.