Our planet is under threat. Pollution, climate change, civil unrest, overpopulation and warfare all conspire with other destructive forces to change the world map. Every other month science heralds the demise of another precious resource, animal, plant or part of the world under severe strain because of human intervention.
We have to appreciate what we have while we have it. With that in mind, here is the first installment of places around the world most likely to vanish or transform beyond recognition in the next century. Catch them while you can.
Taller than any peak in Europe, Mount Toromocho and the villages that surround it have become the latest victims of China’s insatiable need for raw materials. The mountain contains over 2 billion tons of copper ore which China desperately requires in the form of electrical wire. As such, the government of relatively poor Peru has been paid off by China to in effect sell the mountain and displace thousands of people in nearby villages across the valley.
When the final extraction of the copper deposits is complete, China will have paid 20 times less fair market value. Cash poor Peru seems to be content with that, even if it comes at the expense of Mount Toromocho, which will look decidedly different when the copper runs out.
The Great Barrier Reef, Australia
Coral reefs around the world are under threat because of climate change but none compare to the Great Barrier Reef. The world wonder contains 2,900 individual reefs, 900 islands and at over 340,000 square km, is the most enormous natural structure on the planet.
With a cornucopia of biodiversity reliant on the coral reef for life, the recent rise in ocean temperatures and ultraviolet light, as well as pollution run-off from excessive use of farm fertilizer in the area are absolute menaces to the survival of Great Barrier.
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Although a source of controversy by those who criticize the science behind the theory, by many accounts, Venice is going down. The city, if drastic measures are not undertaken, will sink underwater over time, as negative climate change endures and results in the rise of water levels. A terrible fate if your city is a network of canals and small islands.
With a drop of over 20 cm in the last century alone, it remains to be seen whether a plan led by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to erect inflatable pontoons across the sea bed will reverse the scary trend.
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The island nation of Nauru, South Pacific
The tiny island nation of Nauru is part of Micronesia in the South Pacific. No state in the UN has less people and at a mere 21 square km, Nauru has no official capital city. The one advantage Nauru did have until recently, despite a small stature in most areas, was the fact that the island was a big phosphate rock. Was is the operative word of course. The country became a giant mine for much of the past century and met a great global demand for a precious natural resource.
The recent depletion of the phosphate reserves however, underscores a major calamity years in development. With land no longer arable because of the phosphate mines and efforts to turn the island into a tax haven and detention center for Australia not quite successful, the entire population of Nauru may have to consider a mass migration. A viable way of life here has become elusive.
The Chihuahua Desert, Mexico and the United States of America
The desert with the most biodiversity in the world is under severe threat. Catch endemic wildlife and flora here while you can because dire elements in both Mexico and the United States threaten Chihuahua on a daily basis. Plant poachers for one, who help fuel the incessant demand for cactus by landscapers, are culpable for the loss of many of the 1,500 types that once grew wild here.
The spiral effect of the cactus depletion is immense, when you consider the myriad of animals that depend on the plants for food, shelter and defense. The other major culprit in the ruinous transformation of the Chihuahua Desert? Farmers who for years now, have let livestock graze and wipe out precious grasslands.
Check out Part II of our series on places on Earth under threat.
Photo credits: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
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