Silent Earth: The big extinction of species In May 2019, a report on the state of biodiversity was presented by the International Biodiversity Council IPBES with the participation of nearly 500 leading scientists and on the basis of a comprehensive synthesis of the scientific literature. The balance is highly alarming: intact natural habitats are shrinking rapidly, mammal populations have declined 82 percent compared to their natural state, and about one in four animal and plant species is threatened with extinction. [read more]