| Wildlife and Biodiversity |
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THE IMPORTANCE OF BIO-DIVERSITYWe are at a critical moment in our history when we must do everything we can to protect our wildlife and prevent further BIO-DIVERSITY LOSS. The loss of a single species has an effect on our entire eco-system.For too long animal protection and bio-diversity have taken a low priority on the humanitarian agenda. Only recently have we finally begun to understand our connection to the eco-system. As human beings we are part of the great web of life, not separate from it. This web of life consists of the 1.75 million species we have identified as well as the millions we have not yet identified. While some extinctions are natural, human activity has taken the extinction rate of plants, animals, birds, and insects to about 1000 times higher than the average rate throughout human history. Scientists estimate that one fourth of the planet’s species could be gone within a single generation. We believe this is not just a problem that needs to be solved, but a crisis that requires immediate and forceful attention. WHY HABITAT PROTECTION IS NOT WORKINGHere are a few key reasons why habitat protection is not working:THE FAILURE OF INTERNATIONAL TREATIES The whole world community signed a treaty on bio-diversity in1992. Essentially, this treaty committed us all to significantly reduce BIO-DIVERSITY LOSS by the year 2010. Sadly, many countries have failed to do anything about the problem. Efforts that have been made, such as setting up protected habitats around the world, have not worked. There has also been no coordination between policy makers and scientific researchers in the field and no clear cut effort to organize scientific opinion on a global level. AGRICULTURE BY THE WORLD’S POOR Our efforts to protect habitats are also not working simply because nearly half of the world’s protected nature reserves are being heavily farmed by the world’s poor. Indeed, population is growing at almost twice the rate in those protected areas that it is in other parts of the world. The international community needs to make a massive effort to help our world’s poor develop agricultural techniques that can both address their need for food and the need to protect bio-diversity. LACK OF STRONG LEGISLATION In our own country we took a step backwards on the road to protecting our habitats in the U.S. with a 2001 Supreme Court decision (Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County vs. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers). The high court ruled that “geographically isolated” wet lands, which are not connected to navigable waters, no longer fall under the Clean Water Act. Studies show, however, that these isolated wetlands support high levels of biodiversity, including significant numbers of at-risk species and plant communities. These wetlands need to, once again, fall under the protection of our Clean Water Act. SIGNS OF HOPE FOR THE FUTURE Sometimes it is the private sector that initiates programs which promote the preservation of our wildlife. It was Unilever, for example, that saw a threat to its frozen fish stick business because it knew the world’s oceans were running out of fish. They took action and set up the Marine Stewardship Council which certifies fisheries which limit their catches so that fish populations don’t diminish over time. The drug industry is also becoming interested in BIO-DIVERSITY LOSS because many drugs come from plants found in richly diverse habitats such as the world’s rain forests. The loss of plant life can affect the industry’s ability to create new drugs and ultimately threaten its existence. We need to form more partnerships with the private sector to establish programs that are in our mutual interest. It is also time to finally implement the U.N. Treaty on Bio-Diversity. All of our lives depend on it.
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Learn More
- Green Facts on Biodiversity
- The Encyclopedia of Life
- National Audubon Society
- U.S. Fish and Wildlfe Service
- Land Animal Protection
- Mammal and Ocean Life Protection