The world’s last wilderness areas are rapidly disappearing, with explicit international conservation targets critically needed, according to an international team of scientists.
The world’s last wilderness areas are rapidly disappearing, with explicit international conservation targets critically needed, according to an international team of scientists.
The team recently mapped intact ocean ecosystems, complementing a 2016 project charting remaining terrestrial wilderness.
Associate Professor Dr. Oscar Venter, co-author on the study based at the University of Northern British Columbia, said the two studies provided the first full global picture of how little wilderness remains, and he was alarmed at the results.
“A century ago, only 15 per cent of the Earth’s surface was used by humans to grow crops and raise livestock,” he said. “Today, more than 77 per cent of land – excluding Antarctica – and 87 per cent of the ocean has been modified by the direct effects of human activities.
Continue reading at University of Northern British Columbia.
Image via University of Northern British Columbia.
