Scientists find only 3% of land areas unblemished by humans

[Judi Lynn]

April 16, 2021
2:37 PM CDT
Kanupriya Kapoor

3 minutes read

Very little of today’s world resembles Planet Earth from 500 years ago. In fact, only about 3% of land surfaces might be ecologically intact -- still home to their full range of native species and unblemished by human activity, according to new research.

The finding -- published Thursday in the journal Frontiers in Forests and Global Change -- is far lower than previous estimates based on satellite images, which suggested around 20% to 40% of land ecosystems were undamaged.

For the new study, however, scientists conducted an extensive survey of forest cover and species losses to understand better what was happening beneath the world’s tree canopies.

"I was particularly surprised to see how low it really is," said Andrew Plumptre, a conservation biologist at the University of Cambridge. "It shows how rare such intact places are. It's scary just how little the world looks like what it was just 500 years ago."

More:
https://www.reuters.com/world/scientists-find-only-3-land-areas-unblemished-by-humans-2021-04-16/

[Native]

1. We are so fucked.

[Mickju]

2. Correct