Will earth be a lonely planet for we, the humans, to live. Â
By Rakesh Agrawal
Dead a dodo, is a phrase, humankind never wants to use as it means unambiguously and unequivocally dead. But, because of our own rapacious and ravenous character as we want to own and use all that nature provides us, a number of species—both plants and animals—are destined to meet the fate of dodo, a flightless bird, somewhat like a turkey and native to Mauritius; that was completely wiped out by 1690, thanks to the insatiable appetite of the sailors who hunted it down to such as extent that they ate even its last member.
Along with hunting down animals and destroying forests for our greed, climate change has now become a clear and present danger, threatening these species as just recently an Australian rodent, found only on a tiny island on the Great Barrier Reef, was named as the first mammal to become extinct because of climate change, as CBC News: Technology & Science, noted, (See: http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/bramble-cay-melomys-climate-extinction-1.3634296)
This animal, named as Bramble Cay melomys, resembling a small brown rat, lived on Bramble Cay, a hump of coral water between Queensland in Australia and Papua New Guinea. Queensland Government and University of Queensland report notes that it represents the first recorded mammalian extinction due to anthropogenic climate change.
Scientists have predicted more species will be extinct due to climate change because many can’t evolve or migrate fast enough to cope with effects of climate change and habitat loss. Species confined to temperate zones and to the Earth’s poles or mountain tops, and living at climatic vulnerable places like tropical coral reefs, are considered most at risk. And, Bees, butterflies and other pollinators are specifically vulnerable.
At present, as much as 30 percent of mammals are at risk as a new study led by Luca Santini at Sapienza University in Rome estimates because of average rate of climate change, boosting their risk of extinction.
Clearly, danger bells are tolling loud and clear for many species, some of them are endangered (EN), categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) that has put them in the  Red List as likely to become extinct. Others are Critically Endangered (CR).
In 2012, the IUCN Red List featured 3079 animal and 2655 plant species as ENÂ worldwide, jumping from 1102 and 1197 in 1998. (See: www.iucnredlist.org)
The most worrying news is that, over 40 percent of the world’s species face the risk of extinction. It include extinct species like aurochs, Bali tiger, Caribbean monk seal, Carolina parakeet, Caspian tiger, Labrador duck, passenger pigeon, Schomburgk’s deer and of course, dodo.
It seems, we the humans, are determined to wipe the earth out of its most precious plant and animal species as a new study looks at past and present rates of extinction and finds at least 1,000 times faster extinction than before humans arrived on the scene, and the world is on the brink of a sixth great extinction, believes the study’s lead author, biologist Stuart Pimm of Duke University. Pimm’s study focused on the rate, not the number, of species disappearing from Earth. It calculated a “death rate” of how many species become extinct each year out of 1 million species, largely due to the Habitat loss as species are finding no place to live as more places are built up and altered by humans. (See: http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/extinctions-now-1-000-times-faster-than-before-humans-1.2658571).
If it happens, it will be a very lonely planet for we, the humans, to live.