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Extinction of species

Extinction of species in Latin American, specifically eastern Amazonia, is a very real and increasingly harmful effect of climate change. The loss of biodiversity through species extinction is projected to be significant. Once-impressive levels of ecological biodiversity in this region are folding under the pressures of climate change.

To provide a frame of reference for the problems extinction of species could cause, just look at these numbers: of the top 10 biodiverse countries in the world, 5 of them are in Latin America – Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Peru. Latin American is home to 40% of all the species found in tropical forests – Colombia alone houses 10% of plant and animal species.

Within 40 years, destruction of forest ecosystems alone are projected to cause the extinction of 100,000 – 450,000 different species – 5,000-20,000 of which are plants. Additionally, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Fourth Assessment) anthropogenic (human-caused) warming and associated decline in soil water are projected to facilitate the slow replacement of tropical forest with savanna (semi-arid vegetation will be replaced by arid vegetation).