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What has man destroyed in the last half century?
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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Over the last fifty years, the human race has exterminated approximately 90% of the world's large fish stocks, with nearly 22% of the ocean's known fishing grounds completely overfished. Another 44% of similar ocean areas are currently at risk of being overfished.
Also, over the last half century, human activity has caused the destruction of 70% of all forest reserves on the planet. Over 30% of forests on Earth have been fragmented into pieces, as a result of which they are simply degrading.
During this period, humanity managed to liquidate over 45 thousand lakes.
According to statistics, every year the chemical sector of the economy emits over 100 million tons of 70,000 types of organic compounds. However, only a small part of these chemicals undergoes proper control for safety for the environment and humans in particular.
In addition, over the past 50 years, a number of bird species have disappeared due to human activity, and 11% of those currently living are on the verge of extinction. In addition, experts report that approximately 18% of all mammal species, 8% of plant species, and approximately 5% of fish are threatened with extinction.
Coral reefs, which we wrote about in the article titled “ Coral reefs will disappear completely in 30-40 years,” are at this stage suffering from ocean pollution and depletion of water resources, as well as increasing water temperatures.
Thus, experts emphasize, we have already lost 30% of all known resources on Earth, while the planet's population is only growing.