Can We Stop a Mass Extinction?
The Inquiry
BBC
4.6 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 10 January 2019
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Human activity is sending animals and plants extinct. But there is a fightback going on. Scientists all over the world are coming up with radical solutions to save them - from transplanting polar bears, to “de-extincting” a very strange frog. And experts say each one of us can make a difference.
So is it too late to save the planet, or can we stop a mass extinction?
Contributors include:
Dr Simon Clulow – Macquarie University, Australia Dr Karen Poiani – CEO, Island Conservation Professor Jane Hill – University of York, UK Professor Thomas Elmqvist – Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University
Presenter: Feranak Amidi Producer: Beth Sagar-Fenton
(image: Romeo, the Sehuencas water frog / Courtesy of Global Wildlife Conservation, Austin Tx USA)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You are listening to the inquiry on the BBC World Service with me, |
| 0:03.7 | Faroneck Amidee. Each week, one question, four expert witnesses |
| 0:08.8 | and an answer. |
| 0:10.0 | Sarah was going through her online dating feed. |
| 0:17.0 | Bored from all the profile pictures that look the same |
| 0:20.0 | when all of a sudden she came across a pair of piercing golden eyes. |
| 0:24.0 | Hi there, I'm Romeo, a se Wenka's water frog from Bolivia. |
| 0:28.0 | If I don't find that one special lady soon, my entire species will be gone as we know it. No pressure. |
| 0:35.8 | Romeo the frog was not posting on a dating website to actually meet someone. |
| 0:40.6 | This was a publicity stunt to save his species from extinction. |
| 0:45.0 | Romeo's fate is a sad one. |
| 0:48.0 | He is the last frog of his kind hopping on earth. |
| 0:52.0 | Scientists estimate of its kind hopping on Earth. |
| 0:53.0 | Scientists estimate more than half of all animals have already gone extinct since the 1970s, |
| 1:00.0 | and we are warned that the worst is yet to come, the planet's sixth mass extinction. |
| 1:09.0 | Human-induced climate change, disease and habitat loss are the driving forces behind this wipeout. |
| 1:16.3 | You can find out more about this in the last episode of the inquiry. |
| 1:22.0 | Experts say we need to take radical steps in order to halt the destruction of wildlife and plants and ultimately save ourselves from the same fate. |
| 1:37.0 | This week we talked to four people approaching this huge challenge in very different ways as we ask can we stop a mass extinction? |
| 1:44.0 | Part one, the frog in the freezer. |
| 1:47.0 | Part one, the Frog in the Freezer. |
| 1:54.0 | I spent a lot of time as a kid in the bush, going camping, |
... |
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