A 2020 study warned that one third of all plant and animal species could be extinct in 50 years. Four years later, in October, 2024 the World Wildlife Fund released a report stating that the Earth’s wildlife populations have already fallen on average by a “catastrophic” rate of 73% in the past half-century.
This is occurring primarily because of climate driven environmental instability, which is increasing with rising sea levels and the growing frequency of severe weather events like drought, extreme heat, wildfires, and flooding. This instability is transforming the migration patterns of animals as their entire ecosystems are either changing or collapsing. These changes reverberate throughout the animal kingdom.
All animal species will attempt adaptation. They are tending to move northward in search of cooler climates, but if the temperature shifts more quickly than they can relocate, extinction will occur. The key impact of global warming on wildlife is habitat disruption, in which ecosystems—places where animals have spent millions of years adapting—rapidly transform in response to climate change, reducing their ability to adjust.
Insects carrying diseases, many of which cannot survive in cold climates, have pushed northward and infected people and plants that have little immunity. Viability of crop and livestock are changing drastically as well. As fish migrate in response to warmer waters, we are seeing that tensions have emerged between countries vying for control of a changed industry.
Climate change is driving a worldwide redistribution of wildlife, as animals are forced to migrate due to changing temperatures.
