Life on land

Of 8,300 known animal species, 8% are extinct and 22% are endangered. These United Nations figures place the planet on the brink of what some scientists now call "the sixth mass extinction." The impact of human action on ecosystems is causing many species to disappear, with irreversible harm to biodiversity and the environment.

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In many ways, the coronavirus crisis marks a turning point in human behavior. One of the lessons this pandemic is teaching us is the essential need to change the way we interact with nature. “We will open the door to new pandemics if we continue maintaining a toxic relationship with nature,” states the ecologist Pedro Jordano. For the secretary of the jury for the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge in Ecology and Conservation Biology, biodiversity “works like a shock absorber”. If it is altered, “it leads to all kinds of problems,” like the spread of COVID-19.

BBVA Compass has officially become the first Rio Grande Valley company to take the Lights Out RGV! pledge, which will include a reduction in lighting in corporate and larger area offices.

“Conserving nature is not a luxury, it’s a necessity,” Group Executive Chairman Francisco González said at the ceremony for the BBVA Foundation’s annual awards to the best biodiversity conservation projects in Spain and Latin America.