Skip to content
Network For Animals Logo
Network For Animals Logo
  • How we take action
    • Cats In Crisis
    • Disaster Relief
    • Dogs In Distress
    • Donkey and Equine Care and Rescue
    • Ukraine War
  • News
  • About
    • Meet Our Team
    • Financials
    • Testimonials
  • Contact
  • Donate
  • How we take action
    • Cats In Crisis
    • Disaster Relief
    • Dogs In Distress
    • Donkey and Equine Care and Rescue
    • Ukraine War
  • News
  • About
    • Meet Our Team
    • Financials
    • Testimonials
  • Contact
  • Donate
Donate now
  • How we take action
    • Cats In Crisis
    • Disaster Relief
    • Dogs In Distress
    • Donkey and Equine Care and Rescue
    • Ukraine War
  • News
  • About
    • Meet Our Team
    • Financials
    • Testimonials
  • Contact
  • Donate
Menu
  • How we take action
    • Cats In Crisis
    • Disaster Relief
    • Dogs In Distress
    • Donkey and Equine Care and Rescue
    • Ukraine War
  • News
  • About
    • Meet Our Team
    • Financials
    • Testimonials
  • Contact
  • Donate

World Environment Day: It’s Time To Wake Up!

  • June 5, 2020
  • News

Today is World Environment Day, and what is supposed to be a day for all of us to celebrate biodiversity. With one million species on the brink of extinction, there is, however, little to celebrate.

We are destroying the natural support systems on which we depend and putting enormous pressure on the planet that ecosystems are literally collapsing before our eyes. The world needs to act before it’s too late. Already clues that doomsday is near have been dropped. Think of the bushfires that ravaged Australia, the locust infestations that swarmed East Africa, and now the coronavirus global pandemic – all cries from Mother Earth that she is in serious danger.

“Nature is a finely tuned system where each species plays a role in the overall puzzle,” said Inger Andersen, environment chief of the United Nations. “And that’s why we’re calling for active engagement in conservation. If you will put nature under pressure it will not be as intact and it will send us a message.”

Today that message rang clear with news from across the globe of several biodiversity catastrophes – caused directly by mankind.

The world has hit another record high for heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

World Environment Day: It’s Time To Wake Up! 1

Human activity has pushed atmospheric carbon dioxide to higher levels today than they have been at any other point in the last 23-million-years, potentially posing unprecedented disruptions in ecosystems across the planet. Carbon dioxide can stay in the air for centuries, which means we have committed the Earth to an enormous amount of warming for a very large time. “The rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels is relentless, and this means the costs of climate change to humans and the planet continue to rise relentlessly as well,” said Jonathan Overpeck, environment dean at the University of Michigan in the USA.

Shocking videos hit social media today as the Arctic rivers turned red after 20,000 tonnes of fuel leaked from a Russian power station. The videos revealed the horror unfolding in the Ambarnaya River near Norilsk in the Russian Arctic. There are fears the pollution could spread to the Great Arctic State Nature Reserve, the largest nature reserve in both Russia and the Eurasian continent, and damage fish stocks for generations to come. The scale of the spill has been compared to the Exxon Valdez accident near Alaska in 1989, in which an oil tanker spilled 10.8 million US gallons of crude oil into the ocean.

World Environment Day: It’s Time To Wake Up! 2

Today it was reported that a staggering 50 percent of coral reefs have died. Coral reefs – a biodiversity home to 25 percent of marine life and a vital source of food for millions of people – are fading quicker than scientists can report. The Reef is a barometer for the well-being of the whole planet and a true indicator of the current state of the world. Dying coral reefs equate to a dying planet.

A report released today detailed how nearly twelve million hectares of tree cover was been demolished, with Brazil, Congo, and Indonesia accounting for the largest shares. The report published by Global Forest Watch exposed the alarming rates at which our trees are being destroyed. According to the report, approximately 3.8 million hectares of tropical primary forest was last year destroyed – the equivalent of losing a football field’s worth every six seconds.

In more breaking news, some of the world’s most iconic animals including jaguars, ocelots, tapirs, sloths, river dolphins, macaws, parrots, and anacondas have died as fires continue to blaze across the Amazon. 1000 square kilometers of rainforest has been wiped out. The wildfires have been made worse by illegal logging, mining, and farming on protected lands. Once again, a manmade tragedy.

Loss of life continues to rise as newspapers today reported that over 6,42 million people have been infected with Covid-19 and close to 400 000 people have died. Loss of biodiversity increases the spread of infectious diseases. The epidemics of avian influenza with Ebola virus, malaria, and yes, COVID-19, have all been attributed to human impacts on biodiversity.

World Environment Day: It’s Time To Wake Up! 3

The EU’s flagship Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) was also in the news after it failed to reverse the long-standing decline in biodiversity caused by intensive farming.

The CAP has so far been insufficient to counteract declining biodiversity on farmlands caused by the use of chemicals and machinery, which is a major threat to the environment.

“Just today’s headlines from around the world are powerful reminders of just how serious the issue is. Biodiversity loss which is now happening up to ten thousand times faster than for millions of years before,” said David Barritt, executive director of NFA. “It’s estimated that we have lost 60% of all vertebrate wildlife populations since 1970. That’s more than half of all birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and fish gone in just 50 years. The opportunity to discuss matters has passed. The chance to crunch numbers has passed, too. Simply put. We don’t have time. We have to act now, or it will be too late.”

By supporting our work, you are reaching out with caring hands to stop animal abuse

Please donate now
Stay up to date

Stay up to date

Share link

“Miracle Dog” Who Survived 72 Days in the Colorado Mountains After her Owner’s Death is Recovering, had “Ravenous Appetite”

Article written by CBS News Originally published by CBS NEWS (Fri, Nov 17, 2023) A faithful dog who survived after spending more than 10 weeks by her

22 November 2023

Dogs Produce Tears when Reunited with Owners, Study Finds

Article written by Nicola Davis Originally published by The Guardian (Mon, Aug 22, 2023) Research is first to demonstrate positive emotion provoking tears in a

16 November 2023

South Korea to Ban Eating Dog Meat

Article written by SKY NEWS Originally published by sky news (Fri, Nov 17, 2023) The popularity of eating dog meat has fallen dramatically in South

12 November 2023

Spain: More than 400 Animals Rescued from Illegal Trading Network

Article written by Kathryn Armstrong Originally published by BBC (Wed, Oct 18, 2023) More than 400 animals, mainly cats and dogs, have been rescued from

8 November 2023

Help us fight cruelty to animals around the world

Click here to donate

Network for Animals

Network for Animals is a non-government, international animal welfare organization crusading for animals around the world.

© Network for Animals
Terms and conditions/ Privacy policy
Cookie policy

Campaigns

Cats In Crisis Disaster Relief Dogs In Distress Equine Care and Rescue Ukraine War Worldwide Donkey Crisis

Stay up to date

Receive our regular emails about our campaigns for animals around the world.

Sign up

Contact us

UK: +44 (0)20 8471 7666
USA: +1 727 599 8148
South Africa: 
+ 27 21 794 9149
+ 264 81 653186

info@networkforanimals.org

Facebook-f Twitter Youtube Instagram Linkedin
Donate
Subscribe

Sign up to our newsletter

enEnglish
af Afrikaans sqAlbanian amAmharic arArabic hyArmenian azAzerbaijani euBasque beBelarusian bnBengali bsBosnian bgBulgarian caCatalan cebCebuano nyChichewa zh-CNChinese (Simplified) zh-TWChinese (Traditional) coCorsican hrCroatian csCzech daDanish nlDutch enEnglish eoEsperanto etEstonian tlFilipino fiFinnish frFrench fyFrisian glGalician kaGeorgian deGerman elGreek guGujarati htHaitian Creole haHausa hawHawaiian iwHebrew hiHindi hmnHmong huHungarian isIcelandic igIgbo idIndonesian gaIrish itItalian jaJapanese jwJavanese knKannada kkKazakh kmKhmer koKorean kuKurdish (Kurmanji) kyKyrgyz loLao laLatin lvLatvian ltLithuanian lbLuxembourgish mkMacedonian mgMalagasy msMalay mlMalayalam mtMaltese miMaori mrMarathi mnMongolian myMyanmar (Burmese) neNepali noNorwegian psPashto faPersian plPolish ptPortuguese paPunjabi roRomanian ruRussian smSamoan gdScottish Gaelic srSerbian stSesotho snShona sdSindhi siSinhala skSlovak slSlovenian soSomali esSpanish suSudanese swSwahili svSwedish tgTajik taTamil teTelugu thThai trTurkish ukUkrainian urUrdu uzUzbek viVietnamese cyWelsh xhXhosa yiYiddish yoYoruba zuZulu

Lisa-Mari Spence

Leadership Gifts Officer

Lisa-Mari was raised in South Africa and joined the NFA team as the UK fundraiser after relocating to Greece. With a background in public relations and a passion for helping animals her role at NFA is a perfect match.

Alissa Ford

Director of Leadership Gifts, USA

Alissa is the Director of Leadership Gifts in the United States. She has a background in nonprofit fundraising and marketing, but believes all paths led her to Network for Animals, where she is able to combine her professional experience with her personal passion for animal welfare. Alissa lives in Boston, Massachusetts with her husband and her fur-baby Ollie, who is treated like the prince he thinks he is, since his human brother and sister are grown and now living on their own. Alissa loves speaking to our supporters who she truly considers a community of fellow animal lovers.