Top biologists from around the world say that an estimated almost half of the world's species is in danger of becoming extinct by the end of this century. Scientists and researchers gathered at a major conference in Vatican and are urging for a stop to this mass extinction.

The Vatican is now hosting to the Biological Extinction conference that brought together ecologists, biologists, and economists for a three-day event. The conference was also specifically sponsored by the pontifical academy of science and pontifical academy of social sciences in a bid to work together in finding a solution to preserve Earth's biological diversity.

Like Us on Facebook

The conference begins today, February 27, where the workshop aims to provide awareness on how the "living fabric of the world is slipping through our fingers" when humans do not show many signs of caring for the environment and nature.

Past studies and data already revealed how the planet will see 20 to 40 percent of biodiversity disappearing by the end of the 21st century, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Scientists say that despite having major conservation efforts for the protection of endangered species such as pandas, rhinos, and tigers, however, many organisms are still neglected.

According to the conference's statement, food directly originates from higher plants which are estimated to be as much as 425,000 species on the planet. More specifically, at least 10,000 of these plant species were cultivated by human communities, societies, and civilizations over the course of thousands of years. Today, only 103 of these species provide 90 percent of the human population's food sources.

Three of them such as grain, rice, wheat, and maize produce 60 percent of the world's food. This is just around a fifth of the plant species of the world, where the rest are at risk of disappearing by the end of this century.

Apart from serving as crucial food systems, other plants and organisms are also used for medicine, atmospheric purification processes, ecosystem maintenance and carbon storage. All of these function to ensure the survivability of the human race.

 The Vatican and the Catholic church views this as a potential environmental crisis where Pope Francis declared this as an urgent issue that will be intensively discussed during the conference this week.