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PASSAGE 23
One million of the planet's eight million species are threatened with extinction by humans, scientists
warned Monday in what is described as the most comprehensive assessment of global nature loss ever.
Their report paints a bleak picture of a planet ravaged by an ever-growing human population, whose
insatiable consumption is destroying the natural world.
Shrinking habitat, exploitation of natural resources, climate change and pollution are the main drivers
of species loss and are threatening more than 40% of amphibians, 33% of coral reefs and over a third of
all marine mammals with extinction, according to the report of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy
Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), a U.N committee. This report comes six
months after the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned that the world has less
than 12 years to avoid catastrophic levels of global warming. In the same way that the IPCC report turned
the climate crisis into a political concern, the authors of the IPBES report hope that it will thrust nature
loss into the global spotlight.
Just as with climate change, humans are the main culprits of biodiversity damage, altering 75% of
Earth's land and 66% of marine ecosystems since pre-industrial times and using more than a third of the
world's land and 75% of freshwater supplies for crop or livestock production, according to the report.
Additionally, it also pointed out that in 2015, a third of marine stocks were being fished at unsustainable
levels and the amount of raw timber being harvested has increased by almost half since 1970, with up to
15% of it cut illegally. Moreover, marine plastic pollution has increased tenfold since 1980. Pollution
entering coastal ecosystems has produced more than 400 ocean "dead zones," totaling an area bigger than
the United Kingdom. These areas are so starved of oxygen they can barely support marine life.
However, "it is not too late to make a difference, but only if we start now at every level from local to
global," said Sir Robert Watson, IPBES chair, adding that this would require a complete change of
economic systems and a shift in political and social mindsets. Several recommendations were, made in
the report, including improving sustainability in farming by planning landscapes so that they provide food
while supporting the species that live there at the same time, reforming supply chains and reducing food
waste. When it comes to healthy oceans, the report recommends effective fishing quotas, designated
protected areas and reducing the pollution that runs off from the land into the sea, among other actions.
(Adapted from https://edition.cnn.com)
Question 1. Which of the following is the passage’s main concern?
A. How governments can save species from extinction.
B. Marine life under threat due to increasing pollution.
C. The impending great loss of biodiversity due to human activities.
D. The negative impacts of climate change on biodiversity.
Question 2. What can be inferred from paragraph 2?
A. A catastrophe will happen in 12 years if global warming continues.
B. Authors of the IPBES report want to increase awareness about nature loss.
C. The IPCC report drew the attention of politicians to the extinction of species.
D. Climate change is the biggest contributor to species loss, according to IPBES.
Question 3. The word “bleak” in paragraph 1 can be best replaced by
.
A. dangerous
B. unpromising
C. cruel
D. severe