SSC Selection Post 2024 PYQ — Question 5

Read the given passage and answer the questions that follow.
The World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) has recently released its ‘Living Planet Report
2022’ – this finds a 69% decline in wildlife populations between 1970 and 2018. ‘Vertebrate
wildlife groups have fallen by two-thirds globally while freshwater species have shrunk by
83%. One million planets and animals face extinction – about 2.5% of birds, mammals,
amphibians, reptiles and fish have gone forever. The crisis is caused by the Anthropocene,
our era of sprawling human impacts, extending from heating Earth’s atmosphere to making
oceans acidic and destroying habitat. Many animals inhabit trees, nooks and crannies in
forests across Earth – yet, every year, we destroy ten million hectares of forestlands. Our
greenhouse gas emissions warm the world, causing extreme weather events, droughts,
heatwaves, wildfires and the collapse of productive plants. This forces wildlife to travel,
seeking water and food. As they wander, they face human-animal conflicts over resources.
We have a few consolations of metal and plastic to amuse ourselves with through this
destruction – the animals of the Anthropocene have none.
However, losing them has huge implications for humanity. According to the World Economic
Forum, an analysis of 163 industry sectors shows over half the world’s GDP is dependent on
nature and ecosystem services performed by animals. About $44 trillion of economic value
generation comes from such services- the World Bank finds their collapse could cause a $2.7
trillion annual decline in global GDP by 2030, South Asia among the worst-hit. Alongside,
without our fellow species, we lose the wonders and beauty of the world.
There are solutions to halt this growing loss. We can rejuvenate wild habitat, protect humans
sharing lands with animals and respect wildlife’s need or peace. Thinking about animals helps
us understand the alchemy of existence.