A recent news article reported that the Lochness monster was photographed in England�€™s Lake District on the cell phone of a 24 year old Briton. Is it possible that cell phone technology finally solves the mystery that has been kept alive through numerous sightings since 1933? It is arguable whether or not it was actually the Lochness himself, or something else, but what is clear is that new technology is helping us to discover many new species almost every month. Just in the year 2010, over 200 new species of plants and animals were discovered deep within the forests of Papua New Guinea. These include two new mammals, 24 new species of frogs, nine new plants, and almost 100 new insects. In the last decade, over 1200 new species have been discovered in the Amazon alone- at an amazing rate of about one every three days. 

New technology such as state-of-the-art deep-sea imaging methods have also been an essential component is discovering hundreds of new species at the bottom of the sea, where it was earlier thought that no life was possible. Organisms found in the deepest trenches on earth include possible missing links between vertebrates and invertebrates (those without backbones and spinal columns). However, despite this all is not well with the state of our biodiversity.

We are losing species at a colossal pace. While extinctions of species are a part of the natural process of evolution, the extremely high rate of extinction in this century can be attributed almost solely to human activity. It has been found to be as much as 100 to1,000 times greater than the normal rate, and it is calculated that species are disappearing at the speed  of one every 20 minutes.

The future looks even more frightening. While there is no accepted figure on what it is going to be, all accounts are grim. Zoologist Edward O Wilson estimates 27,000 species are currently lost per year. By 2022, 22% of all species will be extinct if unless urgent action is taken. Another scholar estimates the loss of 30,000 species per year, while Georgina Mace estimates that we will lose about 14-22% of all species and subspecies over the next 100 years. What will this mean for the coming generations? 

As everyone is aware, in a matter of decades it is unlikely that we will have any tigers or leopards left in our jungles. Some of the very essential services that are provided to us by nature are going to vanish too. 

Honey bees are already on the decline, and in this case, it is technology that killing them off. So, it is not just the meltdown of nuclear reactors that change the environment. Cell phone towers are one of the most potent enemies of biodiversity today. 

Albert Einstein said, �€œIf the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live.�€ Bees do not just provide honey for our breakfast table, or Winnie-the-Pooh with his favourite treat. They pollinate about 90 commercially important crops worldwide- including most of the tastiest fruit. It is estimated that the radiation from cell phone towers have already decimated bee populations in large tracts of the world. And it is not just cell phone radiation.

Careless use of pesticides and herbicides have done their bit in eliminating species. Indiscriminate use of drugs such as diclofenac in the Asian subcontinent has decimated the vulture population. How are we going to manage without their scavenging services?

Where are we headed and what lies over the horizon? Are we going to live in a world where we are increasingly dependant on technology just to provide us with services that are otherwise provided to us by nature and the multitude of species that we share the world with? Are we going to be responsible for the extermination of species that we may never even be aware that they ever existed? Or are we going to rethink our technology base and be willing to give up on some luxuries if they are not for the greater good of all the inhabitants of the earth?