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 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...

 the  pace  of  killing  is  not  slowing. 

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 Most  illegal  ivory  goes  to  China." 

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

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

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 For info on   marine life and   oceans -   see Water or 

 Corruption 

 Insects: 

 "keep ecosystems functioning." 

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 Pesticides kill beneficial bugs,   (i.e. - butterflies, bees) 

 and poison "the biosphere." 

 Today,  across  the  entire   world,  "there  are 

 9  gigatons  of  plastic,   and   4  gigatons  of  animals.

 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: 

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

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

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

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 When  forests  burn  it's  not 

just  trees  that  suffer: 

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 "The  animals  are  on  fire." 

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"Sprawling wildfires...are   producing record amounts of   greenhouse gases."

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 "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." 

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

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 "Since  the  [Myanmar]  military  seized  control...deforestation  has  burgeoned." 

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 Some  "offsets"  used  for  conservation  of  wilderness  in  the  Third  World  are  mired  in  controversy   because  of  the  displacement  of  Indigenous  people. 

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