77% Of Earth's Surface, 87% Of World's Oceans Directly Affected By Farming, Fishing, Development
New research shows just how quickly the world's last wilderness areas are disappearing. An international team, led by Australia’s University of Queensland (UQ), has just mapped intact ocean ecosystems, complementing its 2016 project charting remaining terrestrial wilderness.
Together they provide the first global picture of how our impact has spread. “A century ago, only 15% of the Earth's surface was used by humans to grow crops and raise livestock,” says James Watson, from UQ's School of Earth and Environmental Sciences.
“Today, more than 77% of land – excluding Antarctica – and 87% per cent of the ocean has been modified by the direct effects of human activities. “It might be hard to believe, but between 1993 and 2009, an area of terrestrial wilderness larger than India – a staggering 3.3 million square kilometres – was lost to human settlement, farming, mining and other pressures.
“And in the ocean, the only regions that are free of industrial fishing, pollution and shipping are almost completely confined to the polar regions.”
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https://cosmosmagazine.com/geoscience/almost-all-of-the-earth-s-land-and-ocean-wilderness-has-disappeared