According to a new study, humans are at risk of extinction due to the persistent destruction of plant life on Earth. The study was conducted by researchers from University of Georgia. They said that the civilization could become absolutely unsustainable if humans don’t reduce the pace of destruction of Earth's decreasing supply of plant life.

Study’s lead author and associate professor John Schramski wrote in a paper published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that energy of the Sun is stored in plants and fossil fuels, but humans are using them much quicker than their replenishment.

According to scientists, 2,000 years ago, the Earth was having roughly 1,000 billion tonnes of carbon in living biomass, but the amount has reduced to nearly half since then due to human activities. As per estimates, in the last century, destruction of more than 10% of that biomass had occurred.

Schramski said that this trend is needed to be reversed, otherwise the biomass battery will reduce to such a level that Earth could no longer sustain life. Most of the losses are caused by deforestation, and the beginning of large-scale mechanized farming in addition to the requirement of feeding a rapidly increasing population has added to them.

With destruction of more biomass, Earth will be left with a smaller amount if stored energy that is required for maintaining complex food webs and biogeochemical balances of Earth.

According to Schramski, "As the planet becomes less hospitable and more people depend on fewer available energy options, their standard of living and very survival will become increasingly vulnerable to fluctuations, such as droughts, disease epidemics and social unrest".