3.2.5 Extinction of species

An important aspect of this human-driven change in the Earth system is the extinction of species. It’s estimated that extinction of species is occurring 1000 times more rapidly than would be occurring if humans were not around, and that this is likely to rise to 10,000 times in the future. It is now widely agreed that we have entered a sixth mass extinction of species, the last one having occurred 65 million years ago, and that one wiped out the dinosaurs. The difference between this one and the previous 5 mass extinctions that have occurred, is that this one is seen to be driven by human activity, whereas the previous ones have been caused by natural phenomena.