There is a lot of attention on the fashion industry’s impact on water and climate. But more focus needs to be given to the role it is playing in declining biodiversity. Fashion is having a devastating impact on ecosystems around the globe.

The extinction of fish species in the Aral Sea is linked to intense cotton farming in the region. Deforestation in Canada and Brazil for the cellulosic fiber market is destroying ecosystems which provide a home for a plethora of endangered species. Sumatran orangutans, tigers and Indus river dolphins have been pushed to brink of extinction by the actions of industries including fashion manufacturing.

The insatiable thirst for buying more clothes more often is putting the Earth’s most precious wild places at risk, pushing species towards extinction, destroying livelihoods and communities.

The link between unsustainable fashion and the loss of biodiversity is the last orangutan in a clear-cut forest. Whether it is pollution from farming cotton, plundering species such as eucalyptus for rayon fabrics, or the harvesting of wild animals for fur, the natural environment is being eroded and weakened.

Now is the time for businesses, including the fashion industry, to think seriously about how they can mitigate their impacts on biodiversity and contribute to global efforts to improve the status of biodiversity.