This Map Reveals Where Your Purchases Hurt Endangered Species the Most

Purchasing most consumer goods—from furniture to cell phones—inevitably takes a toll on the environment and harms endangered species. But understanding exactly which regions were most affected has been a guessing game. Now, new research published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution identifies global hot spots that goods exported to the United States, China, Japan and the European Union harm the most. U.S. consumption particularly threatened land species from parts of Southeast Asia and Madagascar, as well as southern Europe, the Sahel region of Africa, coastal Mexico, Central America and Central Asia. Researchers behind the study evaluated the supply chains of a slew of different products to trace the effects of goods on 6,800 species listed as threatened by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The threats to species caused by the supply chains included a range of things including forestry destroying habitats, pollution and urban development. Courtesy of Keiichiro Kanemoto and Daniel Moran/Nature JournalDarker purple and green regions indicate the regions where exports to the U.S. most damage biodiversity. “Once you connect the environmental impact to a supply chain, then many people along the supply chain, not only producers, can participate in cleaning up,” says study author Daniel Moran, a researcher at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, in a press release. Conservation spending totals some $6 ...
Source: TIME.com: Top Science and Health Stories - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized animals Environment onetime Source Type: news