A worldwide celebration to celebrate the father of one of the most important scientific theories in history: the Theory of Evolution.
Charles Darwin was born on 12 February 1809. His magnificent theory revolutionized the image we have of ourselves and the world.
To remember his enormous impact, the birth of the British naturalist who formulated his theory at the age of 50, more than 20 years after returning from a long voyage aboard the brigantine Beagle, has been celebrated for decades all over the world.
Charles Darwin's journey lasted almost five years spent on board, circumnavigating the globe, from the Cape Verde Islands to Brazil, from Tierra del Fuego to the Galapagos, until reaching Australia.
In his adventure, Darwin, among glaciers, volcanoes, deserts, tropical forests and wild islands, collected precious material to develop his theory of the evolution of species which today is the basis of scientific thought and modern ethno-anthropology.
Numerous WWF initiatives: climate, health, food safety: to protect humanity, the best allies are animal species, including bats, insects, vultures, whales, sharks, elephants, lions, tigers, wolves, almost all of which are threatened in unfortunately in various ways by man himself.
The loss of a species causes, in fact, a "domino" effect, which favors the extinction of others or the degradation of the ecosystems that depend on it, with damage that has repercussions on us humans.
We are experiencing the sixth mass extinction, due to the rate of disappearance of species so accelerated as to cause a dizzying collapse in biodiversity.
The industrial revolution, population growth and the expansion of cities have accelerated the impacts on biodiversity: today an extinction rate is estimated to be a thousand times higher than the natural extinction rate.
The WWF has chosen the day on which the father of evolutionism is celebrated to launch its Our Nature campaign, remembering that our species still has time to choose the end of our evolutionary journey: to become extinct or to coexist with nature in a relationship of coexistence and collaboration.
In the new report launched on
Darwin day
, entitled "Domino effect: saving species so as not to become extinct", the numbers speak clearly and explain the crucial role of the so-called 'ecosystem services' which have allowed our civilizations to develop and prosper: the 35% of agricultural production is linked to pollination by insects (bees, butterflies, moths, bumblebees, beetles) but in Europe and North America almost 50% of existing species are in serious decline and a third are in danger of extinction .
Tiny allies such as ants and other arthropods contribute to the degradation of organic matter and mineralization of the soil.
And still on the subject of food security, another threat comes from the degradation of soil quality, which has affected a third of the earth's surface, caused by deforestation, exploitation of industrial agriculture, pollution and the effects of the climate crisis.
From 1950 to today, more than 35% of land suitable for crops has been degraded.
Added to this is the loss of the ability of the soil, depleted or deprived of its organisms, to perform an important function of absorbing CO2.
Returning to the species, the bats that feed on fruits, typical of some tropical forests, help to regenerate their environment in a natural way, thanks to an incessant work of spreading the seeds: without them the forests become more vulnerable and less productive with negative consequences also for the livelihood of local human populations.
The loss of biodiversity can make us sick.
This has been shown to us by the spread of the COVID pandemic or other diseases transmitted by pathogens that have affected humans as a consequence of the destruction of ecosystems and the unsustainable management of species.
The report explains the role of vultures, without which the spread of pathogens takes hold more easily, as has already happened in Asia, given that the carcasses on which they feed can favor the spread of diseases such as rabies and other infections .
If the African continent lost all its elephants, the storage capacity of 3 billion tons of carbon would also be exhausted, the main cause of ongoing climate change: the pachyderms of the African tropical forest have, in fact, a predilection for plants and fast-growing trees while neglecting slower-growing ones which, having a high density of wood, favor high carbon storage.
Without wolves in our woods there would be no brake on the pressure on the vegetation created by all the herbivorous ungulates, such as deer and roe deer, which feed on shoots and seedlings, and such as wild boars, whose excessive presence in numerous contexts enormously lowers the biodiversity of the vegetation in the undergrowth, with the consequent reduction in the regeneration capacity of woodland environments.
A well-functioning forest ecosystem regulates rainfall runoff, collects and filters rainfall water, reducing pollutant loads and providing drinking water.
When the ecological capacities of forests are exhausted, water also becomes a dangerous vector of pathogens.
Many species of filter-feeding organisms, such as freshwater mussels, which contribute to the quality of the water we drink, have already become extinct or are literally on the brink of extinction.
The climate change mitigation function provided by the oceans is also favored by their inhabitants, from the most majestic ones such as whales, sharks, tuna, down to the tiny phytoplankton.
When a whale dies, the carbon contained in its body is stored at the bottom of the oceans: it is estimated that each large whale is capable of 'sequestering' an average of 33 tonnes of CO2.
Only a quarter of the whales once on the planet live today.
Same function for phytoplankton, the basis of the entire 'food' system of the oceans which provides at least 50% of all the oxygen in the atmosphere: this set of microscopic creatures is capable of sequestering approximately 37 billion cubic meters of CO2 l per year, around 40% of all that produced, equivalent to that captured by 1.7 trillion trees, more or less the size of 4 Amazon forests.
Even the much persecuted sharks and rays are our allies for the climate as they also sequester carbon on the seabed once they die, and their capture on a global scale prevents up to 5 million tons of carbon from being stored in the oceans.
Added to this precious contribution are also the transport of essential nutrients for the growth of phytoplankton thanks to their vertical and horizontal migrations and the reduction of the pressure of sea 'herbivores' such as dugongs and turtles.
Other large ocean migrants, bluefin tuna, in addition to storing CO2, maintain the balance of the food chain and release nitrogen with their waste (excrement) which acts as a natural fertilizer for phytoplankton.
Fortunately, also with the contribution of the WWF, the fate of this species has changed thanks to more rigorous rules and controls on fishing.
Even the friendly sea otters, which live in kelp forests, large oceanic algae, have a climate regulating function as they keep the populations of marine herbivorous invertebrates (urchins, bivalves) under control with positive effects on a fragile ecosystem, the kelp forests. kelp, which has high carbon storage capacity.
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