White crosses littered the beach at St James tidal pool on Wednesday 30 November as activists from Extinction Rebellion, a global environmental movement, held a Remembrance Day for lost species.
On a white cross it reads: “Baiji White River Dolphin 2002, hunted for their food and skin” while another white cross reads: “Pinta Island Tortoise 2012.”
Judy Scott-Goldman, the spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion Cape Town, says the World Wide Fund’s (WWF) Living Planet Report (LPR 2022) warns that the rate of “expansion of human activity” is destroying the natural environment that underpins all life on the planet.
“Extinctions are a normal and expected part of the evolutionary process but currently the species extinction rate is estimated to be between 1 000 and 10 000 times higher than natural extinction rates – the rate of species extinctions that would occur if we humans were not around.”
She added that the Remembrance Day for lost species aimed to demand that all institutions “tell the truth about the extreme cascading risks humanity now faces”.
“The fact that humans have vastly reduced wild spaces and fenced in and fragmented the natural areas that are left makes it difficult for flora and fauna to move in response to threats such as habitat destruction, predation, pollution and a warming climate.
“In choosing to situate our ceremony next to the sea, we acknowledge the pressure we are placing on our oceans and marine animals with ocean acidification, ocean warming, ever-increasing shipping of goods across the seas, noise pollution from maritime traffic, chemical pollution, exploitation of undersea oil and gas, plastic and solid waste pollution, destructive fishing practices such as bottom trawling, overfishing, illegal fishing and coastal development.”
Goldman added that humans have dramatically increased energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, converted wild land for agriculture, use fresh water, fertiliser, plastics and pesticides irresponsibly and chemicals pollute the effluent which has had a devastating impact on the planet.
“Our second demand is that we begin repairing and protecting nature immediately.
“According to WWF’s Living Planet Report 2022, monitored wildlife populations such as mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish have seen a 69% decline on average since 1970.
“There has also been a catastrophic loss of insect life and yet politicians and economists still blindly hum the mantra of economic growth as if it is the only measure that matters.”
If the current rate of economic activity is causing such a rate of species loss, it is difficult to see how life on earth could continue in the face of continued exponential economic expansion, she concluded.
The main drivers of species’ decline are habitat degradation and loss, mostly from the conversion of wild land to agriculture, exploitation (harvesting, logging, hunting and fishing), the introduction of invasive species, pollution, climate change and disease.
Reverend Rachel Mash from the Green Anglican church said in her lifetime alone two-thirds of animals have been extinguished.
“A million plant and animal species are threatened with extinction, we have lost half of the world’s corals and lose forest areas the size of 27 football fields every minute.
“The great choir is being silenced. The voices are fading.
“They have done studies in the Amazon monitoring sounds of bird life and insect life and have heard a rapid drop.
“So, what must we do?”
