Study: 1 million species threatened with extinction

More than a million species of plants and animals are in danger of extinction, according to a United Nations report released Monday. The study by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services concluded that the threat is due to humans, with species loss now occurring tens to hundreds of times faster than it has in the past.

"Humanity unwittingly is attempting to throttle the living planet and humanity's own future," George Mason University biologist Thomas Lovejoy, a biodiversity expert who was not part of the research team, told The Associated Press. A key reason for the decline is loss of habitat. The report found that more than half a million species on land "have insufficient habitat for long-term survival" and could disappear within decades without habitat restoration.

You can read a summary of the study from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services here.

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