More than half of Antartica's plant, animals could disappear due to climate change
23 Dec 2022 11:29am
A study in the journal PLOS Biology found that 65 per cent of Antarctica's plant and animal species, including penguins, will likely disappear if the world does not do something to decrease fossil fuel emissions.
The study also showed that the current conservation efforts in Antarctica are not working on the rapidly changing continent, reported United Press International (UPI).
Researchers concluded that implementing an extra layer of cost-effective strategies, which they lay out in the study, could save up to 84 per cent of Antarctica's vulnerable biodiversity.
"Antarctica is not really contributing to climate change; there's not a large-scale number of people living there, so the greatest threat to the continent is coming from outside the continent,” Jasmine Lee, lead author of the study, told CNN.
"We really need global action on climate change, as well as some more local and regional conservation efforts, to give Antarctic species the best chance of surviving into the future,” she added.
Thursday's study shows that disappearing sea ice will threaten emperor and Adelie penguins that rely on ice from April through December.
"These iconic species, like emperor penguins and Adelie penguins, are at risk and it's really sad to think that Antarctica is one of the last great wildernesses on the planet and human impacts are being seen and felt there,” Lee said.
Lee said that more action is needed to save one of Earth's vast, pristine biomes.
"This is just the tip of the iceberg,” Lee said.
-- BERNAMA
