UN Report: Humans Accelerating Extinction of Other Species

Positives

• This article provides an excellent overview of human impacts on biodiversity. 
• The article is structured well for reading comprehension, even for struggling readers.

Additional Prerequisites

• Students should have prior knowledge of biodiversity, ecosystems, and how humans impact the environment. 
  

Differentiation

• Cross-curricular connections can be made in social studies classes studying how specific countries or regions have been impacted by biodiversity loss or when discussing the future impacts of ecosystem crashes and species extinctions on human communities that depend on them. 
• Before reading, have students discuss with a partner what they know about decreasing biodiversity and make a list of possible effects to reference after the reading.
• This article would make a great introduction to this topic for language arts classes. Consider having students choose a specific vulnerable ecosystem or species to research and write about.
• This article makes the clear connections between human activities, species declines, and climate change. Have science students explore the other linked resources about mass extinctions to incorporate graphs and maps to the topic.