Faldet i antallet af insekter, hvirveldyr og plantearter udgør en potentiel katastrofe for [[biodiversitet]]en.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://horizon-magazine.eu/article/sixth-mass-extinction-could-destroy-life-we-know-it-biodiversity-expert.html |title=Sixth mass extinction could destroy life as we know it. Horizon Magazine 2020 |access-date=16. december 2020 |archive-date=11. december 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201211130339/https://horizon-magazine.eu/article/sixth-mass-extinction-could-destroy-life-we-know-it-biodiversity-expert.html |url-status=ok }}</ref><ref>[https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/brv.12816 The Sixth Mass Extinction: fact, fiction or speculation? Biological Reviews 2022]</ref> En FN-rapport fra 2019 konstaterer at op til en million arter trues af udryddelse og at aldrig før i menneskehedens 
historie er klodens dyre- og plantearter udryddet så hurtigt, som det sker nu.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2019/05/nature-decline-unprecedented-report/ |title=UN Report: Nature’s Dangerous Decline ‘Unprecedented’; Species Extinction Rates ‘Accelerating’. FN 2019 |access-date= 7. maj 2019 |archive-date= 7. maj 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190507230904/https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2019/05/nature-decline-unprecedented-report/ |url-status=ok }}</ref>
Naturvidenskab