Nature

“Wildlife crime is a big business. Run by dangerous international networks, wildlife…are trafficked much like illegal drugs and arms.”

“Some 30,000 African elephants are slaughtered every year…and the pace of killing is not slowing. Most illegal ivory goes to China.”

Much of the world’s wildlife is in serious trouble:

“Starting in the 1800s, industrialization drove up extinction rates and has continued to do so.”

Today, across the entire world, “there are 9 gigatons of plastic, and 4 gigatons of animals.”

Insects: “…keep ecosystems functioning.”

“Pesticides kill beneficial” bugs.

Marine life: “Many affected coral reefs that exhibited 70–80% live coral… presently exhibit less than 5–10%.”

“Humans invented plastic, and animals are harmed by it. They eat it, they get caught in it, or get sick because of it.”

Carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere is causing ocean acidification . “Acidity makes it hard for…corals and some shellfish and plankton species to…survive, [which] could potentially lead to drastic reductions in fish stocks.”

Also terrible is Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing:

"On top of…pillaging fish stocks, IUU fishing is associated with organized crime…drug and weapons trafficking.

Human rights abuses and forced labor … are common." For more on this go to Corruption.

Birds: “the United States and Canada, which are home to 760 bird species, have lost around three billion birds .”

Trees and oceans absorb CO2 in gigantic amounts, but these bio-functions are being rapidly degraded:

“Since Procter & Gamble’s historic shareholder vote…the company has no plans to end forest destruction.”

“The expansion of palm oil plantations … corresponded to significant rises in vector-borne disease infections.”

“The production of palm has played an increasing…role in the deforestation of Southeast Asian rainforests.”

When forests burn it’s not just trees that suffer:

“The animals are on fire.”

“Fires in the Amazon could jeopardize the world’s largest reserve of fresh water.”

"80% of logging [in the Amazon] is to make space for cattle ranching.

[Brazil]…is…the world’s largest beef producer. Demand for the meat is on the rise."

“As [of] the 1960s, 80% of [Indonesia] was rainforest. Now, only half of the country…is forest.”

“Since the [Myanmar] military seized control…deforestation has burgeoned.”

Some “offsets” are used for conservation of wilderness in the Third World, however a number of these conservation efforts are mired in controversy because of the displacement of Indigenous people.