2.5-minute read

Are there just about enough elephants? What is the right number of rhinos? Is there such a thing as an appropriate population of polar bears?

As we continue to monitor coronavirus numbers amidst the current round of hotspot whack-a-mole, conservation scientists are paying close attention to another important set of planetary health figures—rising extinction rates among the estimated 2 million documented species that make up the natural world. From the littlest lemur to the biggest tusker elephant, regardless of size, the unique genetic make-up of every species contributes to the diversity of life. And it’s that biological diversity that keeps our ecosystems stable and functioning, which is a really good and necessary thing for the well-being of all of Earth’s inhabitants.

Protecting and preserving the interdependent members of interconnected ecosystems is a massive, multi-faceted challenge. Is there a single target number that we should aim for that can be applied across millions of species to ensure that we can all keep on keeping on? Like the web of life, it’s complicated. Every species loss reduces diversity and weakens the web to varying degrees.

Scientists calculating how many species we can afford to lose have come up with a clear numerical goal to raise public awareness so that biodiversity conservation can be front and center as we make plans to protect nature better post-pandemic. According to their June 2020 report, the current rate of extinction is estimated to be up to 2,000 species a year—much higher than it should be so that Earth can continue to function as we like it. To help reduce extinctions everywhere on the globe, and to ensure that there is a place for everything and everything is in its place for proper planetary functioning scientists are recommending that we don’t exceed 20 extinctions a year across all species and ecosystems. From 2,000 to just 20.

Can we do it? To quote the stoic’s stoic, Marcus Aurelius, “…if a thing is humanly possible, consider it to be within your reach.” Through international cooperation, conservationists believe it is within our reach to reduce the number of species extinctions globally. As a case in point, despite a very turbulent year that has all but eliminated the tourism that provides critical support to conservation groups in biodiversity hotspots, Big Life Foundation continues to crush the megafauna extinction curve in Kenya. One of the most effective conservation organizations in Africa, Big Life protects and secures wildlife in 1.6 million acres of some of the most important natural habitat left in the world. And through the development of programs that benefit local communities, including critical health and education initiatives, Big Life also supports the people who will support conservation into the future. Winning hearts and minds through clever community-based conservation for healthy people on a healthy planet—most definitely humanly possible.

You can find out what’s currently happening on the ground in Kenya from Big Life’s conservation scientist Jeremy Goss and head of security Craig Millar here. If you would like to explore the strikingly evocative wildlife photography of Big Life co-founder Nick Brandt you can do that here. And if you’ve got any headspace left to monitor non-COVID-19 numbers, you can keep tabs on 95% of species known to science at the Catalogue of Life.

Before we go, we’d like to bid farewell to the smooth handfish. The last of its fish-fingered kind has officially departed the planet—the first modern-day marine fish to be declared extinct. We just got to know you, but we miss you already.