90% Of Iceland’s Animal Species May Be Wiped Out In 50 Years

Climate change will do more to Iceland than just melting the glaciers, a new report details; it will also drastically reduce biodiversity on the island.

Fréttablaðið reports that this is a part of a larger global threat, as millions of species globally are in danger of extinction.

Biologist Þorleifur Eiríksson addressed the report specifically within an Icelandic context.

“It seems to me that unfortunately, things are going to go badly, and I predict that within the next 50 years, about 90% of the animal species that we know about will disappear,” he said. “Some will migrate further north, or further south, but very many of them will die out.”

Amongst the species he named are puffins, whose numbers are already dangerously low, as well as shellfish stocks that could disappear as the seas become more acidic. A loss of shellfish will mean other species who feed on them may disappear as well.

Climate scientists emphasise, however, that it may still be possible to reverse the trend of humanity takes active steps to halt climate-influencing activity.