Humans as well as all the other species we share the earth with are "young species" compared with the geological history. 99.5 % of all the species that have ever lived are already long gone. The extinction and development of new species is a continuous and normal process in nature.
But, when extinctions are a normal part of the life cycles in nature, why should we bother to care about other species?
The natural extinction process is a result of changing environment, competition between species and nature disasters.
In contrast to the natural occurring extinctions is the human made extinctions of species a result of conscious choices. Humans can be made responsible for an extinction process that is happing at a rate never seen before
Every day disappears 50 to 200 species. Of these are 5-10 larger species, while the rest are "bugs" and micro organisms. If this trend continues, then half of the earths species will be gone in 50-100 years. And then they are gone forever.
In Norway we have so far not experienced a large number of extinctions. However, there is reason to be worried for the biodiversity in Norway. Altogether 3886 species are now on the Norwegian Red List that was published by the Norwegian Biodiversity Centre in 2006. Half of these are found in forest environment and threatened by modern forestry.
