Changing habitats of the world

The world is being altered by human action more rapidly now than natural forces changed it during any short period in the past. There are predictions of massive ecological changes and extinctions of species on a unprecedented scale. The author examines what is actually happening, what the consequences are likely to be, and what corrective action can be taken. He emphasizes that, as with all exercises in crystal gazing, this cannot be an error-free analysis. Despite the vast scale of current scientific activity, our knowledge of the processes affecting the world environment and our monitoring of changes are far from adequate. Too many statements—including widely quoted estimates of extinctions—are based on extrapolation from limited data. This is a speculative paper intended as a spur to further analysis rather than as a definitive review. It is based on an address to the Annual General Meeting of the Fauna and Flora Preservation Society on 10 September 1986.*