MEDELLÍN, Colombia: A comprehensive, global appraisal of mass species extinction—and what can be done to reverse it—kicked off in Colombia’s second-largest city Saturday, with more than 750 experts in attendance. “Today the world is at a crossroads,” added IPBES president Sir Robert Watson. The evaluations took 600 volunteer scientists three years to complete, and includes summaries of data taken from about 10,000 scientific publications. Host Colombia claims it has the world’s largest variety of birds and orchids, and is second only to Brazil in terms of overall species diversity. But 1,200 Colombian species are listed as threatened, due partly to pollution and forest-destruction caused by illicit drug production.

Source: Manila Times March 18, 2018 14:48 UTC