We're entering the sixth-wave of mass-extinction. We stand to lose up to 75 percent of the world's species, some report as soon as mid-century. This is because of human activity like waste and pollution, climate change, habitat destruction and wildlife poaching.
Extinction naturally occurs, but it usually happens at a rate of one to five species a year. Right now, plants and animals are going extinct between 100 - 1000 times that rate.
But while this destruction carries on, there are people working day in and out determined to ensure we intervene in this seemingly overwhelming problem. People like Mark and Sophie Hutchinson who founded conservation group, Wild Ark. Wild Ark's mission is to secure land all around the world to restore and protect species under threat. They're a small part of a much larger movement in pragmatic conservation taking place across the world with a focus on land acquisition.
They've moved their twin daughters to Hoedspruit in South Africa to launch their first conservancy 'Pridelands' with local partners Anton and John Lategan. However, while they try and get their first project off the ground, in the background a war rages on. Referred to as the human-wildlife conflict, the poaching of rhino in particular, is the focus of conservation efforts in South Africa.
This war doesn't rage on, however, without unrelenting positivity and determination from people like Rhian Ahlers, Pierre Wilkinson, Ruben and Marianne de Kock, Clive Poultney and Sean Patrick.
If you would like to find out more about the conservation efforts in South Africa, visit Wild Ark, Southern African Wildlife College, EcoTraining and Friends of African Wildlife.
HuffPost Australia travelled to Hoedspruit in South Africa with Wild Ark.