Scientists find that impacts of population growth on the planet’s biodiversity aren’t generally as bad as feared – but are intensifying rapidly in species-rich areas.
Foresters, geographers and ecologists have some good news. Although human population growth between 1992 and 2009 was 23 per cent, and the global economy grew by 153 per cent, the devastation to habitats, ecosystems and wilderness increased by only 9 per cent.
But this single ray of good cheer is countered by a bleak warning from the same scientists that threequarters of the planet’s land surface is experiencing measurable human pressures.
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