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4. What are the basic causes of today’s environmental problems and how are these
causes connected?
Deforestation.
Problem: Species-rich wild forests are being destroyed, especially in the tropics, often to
make way for cattle ranching, soybean or palm oil plantations, or other agricultural
monocultures.
Species extinction.
Problem: On land, wild animals are being hunted to extinction for bushmeat, ivory, or
"medicinal" products. At sea, huge industrial fishing boats equipped with bottom-trawling
or purse-seine nets clean out entire fish populations. The loss and destruction of habitat
are also major factors contributing to a wave of extinction - unprecedented in that it is
caused by a single species: humans. The IUCN's Red List of threatened and
endangered species continues to grow.
Soil degradation.
Problem: Overgrazing, monoculture planting, erosion, soil compaction, overexposure to
pollutants, land-use conversion - there's a long list of ways that soils are being
damaged. About 12 million hectares of farmland a year get seriously degraded,
according to UN estimates.