When Nature's Balance Breaks Down The Next Crisis of Ecosystem Destruction Late 20th Century to Mid-21st Century

When Nature's Balance Breaks Down The Next Crisis of Ecosystem Destruction Late 20th Century to Mid-21st Century

While the immediate threats of famine, disease, and war were easing in the postwar world, another serious crisis was quietly on its way. That is ecological destruction. Under the call of technological progress and economic growth, humans have cleared forests, cleared land, and exploited rivers and oceans, but these human activities have become the root cause of the imbalance in nature. It is estimated that about 75 percent of the earth's land has been transformed by humans, and about 85 percent of its wetlands have been lost. Many of these ecosystems, which performed important functions such as water and air purification, carbon fixation, and flood control, are in crisis.

Climate change is one of the main factors accelerating ecosystem destruction. Rising temperatures and extreme weather events alter species distributions and interactions, fragmenting habitats and pushing many species to the brink of extinction. It is estimated that millions of species are currently on the brink of extinction, and biodiversity is being lost at an extremely rapid rate compared to past geologic eras.

Modern values of human manipulation and management of nature have reinforced the idea of treating ecosystems as tools. However, this idea has backfired. Degradation of ecosystems causes multiple crises at the same time, such as the progression of climate change and the increasing frequency of infectious disease outbreaks. Loss of biodiversity reduces the resilience of ecosystems, i.e., their ability to withstand change, making them vulnerable to functional collapse.

While war was once criticized as the greatest environmental destruction, the 21st century has shown that the constant strain on soil, water, and air from agricultural expansion, urbanization, and resource extraction is having a more serious impact. Whereas the destruction caused by war is localized, sustained human activity continues to place long-term stress on entire ecosystems.

Today's crisis is not the result of a single factor, but rather the combined pressures of climate change, deforestation, pollution, and overdevelopment. Science and technology help us visualize and understand this crisis, but at the same time we face the contradiction that human expansionary activities are accelerating the crisis. Ecosystem destruction is no longer just an environmental problem; it has become the core issue of our time, questioning the very foundations of human existence.