A habitat is the place where the animals and plants live. A habitat could be an area, a region, or an ecosystem where animals and plants call home. Habitat destruction, also called habitat loss or habitat reduction, is the process that the native habitat cannot provide enough food or shelter for the animals and plants. Wildlife habitat in the world is destroyed about 5760 acres per day. About 20% of marine habitat has been destroyed by humans. When habitat destruction happens, plants and animals cannot get adequate food or shelter. This makes the ecosystem unbalanced. Then those animals and plants will become endangered or extinct. People need to do something to prevent habitat destruction to protect the endangered plants and animals.
Habitat destruction is caused by the action of human activities and nature. Dinosaurs became extinct 66 million years ago by nature. Scientists have strong proof that an asteroid crashed into Earth. The dust created from the impact blocked Earth from sunlight for decades. Without sunlight, the plants died. Without plants, the plant eaters died. Without the plant eaters, the carnivores died so dinosaurs went extinct. Human activities also destroy habitats. People want the land and trees to build houses or develop cities, so people cut down trees, transforming forests into homes or buildings. Countless plants and animals go extinct because they lost shelter and food in their original habitats, and they cannot go anywhere to find what they need. Since 1990, we have lost 420 million hectares of forest. It is not hard to imagine that many organisms are disappearing.
Habitat destruction can bring negative effects toward humans and the organisms. When the habitat is destroyed, living things will get no food and no shelter to live. Even though they move to another habitat, they probably could not survive because their ways of living have been changed once their habitats have been replaced. So the various species are getting endangered. According to the data from Deforestation Facts and Statistics in 2022, 137 different species of plants and animals and birds are lost every single day. There are also bad consequences of habitat destruction for humans. Recently, humans are just starting to explore new medicines for disease and other resources for daily life in the forest. If more animals and plants die out, humans will not be able to study the knowledge from them.
There are many ways that humans could do to prevent habitat destruction. For the habitat that has already been destroyed, we need to protect what is left by stopping the action of human activities such as cutting down trees in the forest. At the same time, humans and scientists could work together to rebuild another habitat similar to the previous one to prevent the ecosystem being unbalanced. If the habitat has not been destroyed yet, the government should make rules or regulations so people will know how much land they could use from the native habitat. By doing so, humans could make sure the habitats for plants and animals would not be disturbed to keep the ecosystem balanced. Lastly, humans, no matter adults or kids, old or young, and boy or girl, should receive comprehensive education to understand the importance of biodiversity. They should learn different ways in which everyone can contribute themselves in keeping many different species alive. For example, when humans enter the habitats, do not do anything harm to nature, such as stepping on bugs in the ground.
Human activities are the main reason for leading habitat destruction which result in many species endangered or extinct. It is understandable that humans want to expand a town, build houses, and start businesses by taking lands from the habitat. But this will push the local wildlife farther from its natural habitat, putting the animals and plants especially at risk. Humans should protect nature and prevent habitat destruction to keep the ecosystem balanced. To do so, humans should take the first step by being aware of the problem of habitat destruction. Then, humans should stop doing the activities of destroying the habitats. At the same time, humans should learn the information about how habitat is important and necessary for human lifes.
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