A sixth mass extinction is underway - and it's our fault

Aug 23, 2017

Greater Snow geese fly at the Cap Tourmente Wildlife area at St-Joachim, October 26, 2008. According to Environment Canada, at the beginning of the last century there was about 3,000 Greater Snow geese left and the population was on the verge on extinction. Therefore, the Canadian Wildlife Service set up the Cap Tourmente Wildlife area in 1969, one of many measures that helped to increase the number of Greater Snow geese to more than 800,000. REUTERS/Mathieu Belanger (CANADA) - RTX9YCE

Over the past 500 years, there have been four other mass extinctions on Earth, not including dinosaurs. Image: REUTERS/Mathieu Belanger

Alex Gray

Senior Writer, Formative Content

Our Impact

The Big Picture

Explore and monitor how Future of the Environment is affecting economies, industries and global issues

A hand holding a looking glass by a lake

Crowdsource Innovation

Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale

Stay up to date:

Future of the Environment

Image: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)

Percentage of local population extinction in 177 species of mammals

Image: PNAS

Populations have declined by 38 per cent overall since 1970 Image: WWF Living Planet Report

A lioness walks along a road as visitors sit in their vehicles at Nairobi's National Park, Kenya. Image: REUTERS/Edmund Blair

Have you read?

Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

The Agenda Weekly

A weekly update of the most important issues driving the global agenda

Subscribe today

You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in our emails. For more details, review our privacy policy.

More on Future of the Environment
See all

World on course for almost 3°C of warming this century, and other nature and climate stories you need to read this week

Johnny Wood

November 27, 2023

The Sámi people want Sweden to protect its reindeer. Here’s why

Charlotte Edmond

November 27, 2023

The wind power industry is facing major cost headwinds. What's going on (and what can be done)?

Johnny Wood

November 23, 2023

1:47

The EU just voted to restore nature on 20% of its land and sea by 2030

What is the 'human climate niche' and why does it matter?

Ewan Thomson

November 22, 2023

Phasing down vs phasing out fossil fuels: What are the arguments?

Ewan Thomson and Ian Shine

November 21, 2023