21 - Biodiversity integrity
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"The threshold for the erosion of biodiversity is measured using 2 variables:
One of them is the rate of extinctions which must be less than 10 extinctions per year and per million species.
The rate of disappearance of living species on our blue planet is 10 to 100 times faster than the average observed over the last 10 million years, which places this border in the zone of significant risks. The losses are irreversible.
The main causes of biodiversity erosion are in order: Destruction of habitats (mainly deforestation), Overexploitation (mainly overfishing), climate change, pollution, proliferation of invasive species.
2Causes
The primary cause of decline in terrestrial biodiversity is the change in land use (mainly linked to deforestation and a little to the artificialization of land) of fauna and flora. This destroys species habitats.
The second major cause of biodiversity loss is direct exploitation of environments. On land, this translates into intensive agriculture through the use of phytosanitary products (pesticides, herbicides, etc.) and the simplification of natural environments that this entails. At sea, overfishing is the cause.
1Consequence
“Less abundant and/or unhealthy biodiversity affects the effectiveness of the services provided by nature. The services provided by nature are innumerable and essential to human life (pollination, creation of arable soil, water purification, regulation of material and energy flows, etc.). "
1Other possible cause
The use of fertilizers and pesticides are the main causes of the disappearance of birds in Europe according to the article [Farmland practices are driving bird population decline across Europe](https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/ pnas.2216573120)