Throughout the last hundred year, more and more species have become at risk or wiped out completely due to several reasons. Although, natural events like volcanic eruptions and floods contribute to animal endangerment, I believe that the main causes are human activities, such as deforestation and pollution. These problems could be tackled by forests preservation and pollution mitigation.
One of the major causes for wild animal endangerment is the clearing of forests for commercial motivations, such as urbanization, agriculture, and timber industry. This behavior leads to the destruction of animal habitats, leading to the declination in population of species, as they lose ground for breeding and food sources. Moreover, the prominent increase of pollution caused by human activities, including plastic trash and runoff produced by factories, is causing several animals to be at risks of severe ailments and extermination. For instance, the increase of plastic pollution in oceans and rivers is threatening the aquatic animals, which are mistaking plastic litter for food, causing their death.
Thus, to tackle these alarmingly increasing problems, some measures should be taken promptly. In order to preserve animal habitat, governments should pass stringent law and regulation to preserve wooded areas and restrict the amount of trees that could be harvested and punish companies that do not follow the instructions. For instance, regulating timber extraction, by promoting sustainable logging practices. Accordingly, selective sustainable logging will ensure only mature trees are harvested, and leaving younger ones intact, which will help maintaining forest biodiversity, protection of animal habitats and the carbon stock. Furthermore, to amplify the impact, we should encourage reforestation, afforestation, and banish illegal poaching.
In a like matter, to alleviate the impact of pollution, which is affecting the whole earth, including wildlife and aquatic animals, we should promote waste ecological behavior like sorting and recycling, reducing plastic waste and using environmental eco-friendly materials. For example, there are already scientific breakthroughs making natural-based, biodegradable materials that could be used instead of plastic, which could drastically reduce plastic waste in the oceans.
In conclusion, more and more animals are in risk of extinction due to human activities, and it is up to human to solve these problems. The destruction of animals’ habitats and ocean pollution are the main causes in this problem. To solve it, we will have to place restrictions on harmful behavior like deforestation and investing more money in mitigating waste pollution.