CANBERRA, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- A South Australian-led group of international researchers warned that accelerating climate change and human inaction would pose a threat to the survival of all species.
The 17 scientists on Wednesday published an assessment of the state of civilization, warning that the threat from global warming is greater than previously thought.
Corey Bradshaw, an ecology expert and lead author of the study from Flinders University in South Australia (SA), said the "perspective" paper, which cited more than 150 studies, sought to outline the likely future biodiversity decline, climate disruption and so on, all tied to human consumption and population growth to demonstrate the near certainty that these problems will worsen over the coming decades.
"Humanity is causing a rapid loss of biodiversity and, with it, Earth's ability to support complex life. But the mainstream is having difficulty grasping the magnitude of this loss, despite the steady erosion of the fabric of human civilization," he said in a media release.
"In fact, the scale of the threats to the biosphere and all its lifeforms is so great that it is difficult to grasp for even well-informed experts."
Bradshaw was joined in composing the report by scientists from Stanford University and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
Dan Blumstein from UCLA said the group had chosen to speak out because life depends on it.
"What we are saying might not be popular, and indeed is frightening. But we need to be candid, accurate, and honest if humanity is to understand the enormity of the challenges we face in creating a sustainable future," he said.
"Without political will backed by tangible action that scales to the enormity of the problems facing us, the added stresses to human health, wealth, and well-being will perversely diminish our political capacity to mitigate the erosion of the Earth's life-support system upon which we all depend." Enditem
