A new report from the United Nations says human activity is threatening the survival of up to 1 million species of animals and plants. Many, the report says, will disappear within decades. This would be more than ever before in human history. The U.N.’s Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, or IPBES, released the report on May 6 in Paris. British chemist Robert Watson is the IPBES chairperson. In a statement he said the misuse of resources by humans is not only killing plants and animals, it is also destroying, “the very foundations of our economies, livelihoods, food security, health, and quality of life worldwide.” The IPBES says the document is the first intergovernmental report of its kind and “the most comprehensive ever completed.” It involved 450 experts from 50 countries.