MOSCOW (RIA Novosti)--- The Earth is threatened with an abrupt change in the global ecosystem that may cause "a state shift," in as soon as a few decades, a report published on Thursday in the scientific Nature magazine says.
The research by a group of 22 international scientists, including biologists, geologists, paleontologists, ecologists and theoreticians claimed the global ecosystem could soon reach a tipping point as the human population and consumption rates continue to grow. A global “state shift” occurs when from 50 to 90 percent of ecosystems are disrupted, the study says.
"Humans now dominate Earth, changing it in ways that threaten its ability to sustain us and other species," Nature quoted the report as saying.
The consequences of such a global change in the ecosystem are unknown, but the researchers think it could trigger severe changes in world's agriculture, forests, water resources and fisheries, Nature said, adding all these effects could lead to the “widespread social unrest, economic instability and loss of human life.”
The scientists deliberately avoided the word “doomsday” in their findings, calling it a “tipping point.”
"It really will be a new world, biologically, at that point," Nature quoted Anthony Barnosky, professor of integrative biology at the University of California, Berkeley as saying.
Barnosky suggested half of the Earth's land would be altered by humans by 2025, adding it would be "disturbingly close" to a potential global tipping point.
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