The Society for Conservation Biology, the global society of conservation professionals, held its first annual meeting on the Asian continent this summer. Conservation: Harmony for Nature and Society was hosted by the Institute of Botany at the
Chinese Academy of Sciences and brought together over 1,200 conservation scientists and practioners from 74 different countries.
Presentations spanned a wide range of topics and geographic regions, but particularly focused on Asia and its unique conservation challenges. Many attendees were encouraged by the presence of so many young conservationists from China, eager to protect their region’s distinctive biological diversity with policy stemming from the best scientific practices. Another recurring topic was climate change, with presentations that dealt with global implications and specific concerns for China, which is both the largest developing country in the world and the sixth most biologically diverse region on the planet.
Renowned scientists Dr. George Schaller and Dr. Joel Berger were on hand to receive SCB awards. Schaller, who was recently the subject of the film “Nature's Greatest Defender,” shown on the National Geographic channel, was recipient of a Distinguished Service Award, selected “for extraordinary contributions to the conservation of many of the world's most iconic and endangered species through leadership in field research and applied conservation.” Berger was awarded the prestigious Edward T. LaRoe Award for “extraordinary leadership toward conservation of migration corridors and predator-prey dynamics with efforts in Africa, Asia, Alaska, and North America with strong science shaping policy.” Additionally, each day of the conference began with a plenary ad...
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...cience to Policy in Africa,” concerning conservationists who are working to reverse environmental and biodiversity loss while struggling with limited capacity to handle all pressing issues in the region.
The 2010 meeting will once again return to North America. The University of Edmonton in Alberta, Canada, will host Conservation for a Changing Planet, a global discussion on the large-scale environmental changes that are affecting the earth’s ecology. The theme has particular relevance to the host location, as nowhere will climate change be more dramatic than on the ecosystems of the north. The timing of the conference is vital because, as explained by the local organizing committee behind the conference, “developing conservation strategies to cope with our changing planet is arguably the greatest challenge facing today’s world and its biodiversity.”
We don’t often stop to consider the impact that simply living our human lives has on the other species that once called our neighbourhoods their home. The Fraser Valley, “one of the most important and complex ecosystems in the country” (Thom, p. 171), has been dramatically altered to make a more convenient landscape for housing and farming. In this process, critical habitat has been destroyed and many species that were once abundant have disappeared from our area (Cuthbert p. 24). Urbanization is ongoing and is thought to be the most significant threat to the incredible biodiversity found throughout British Columbia, and particularly the population-dense Lower Mainland (Harding, p. 355). Biodiversity, the “complex web that sustains life on this planet” (Austin, et al., p. 5), is vital for our survival as humans (Cuthbert p. 74). Any loss of biodiversity affects the entire ecosystem and all organisms within it (Fetene et al., p. 52). In the quest to house the ever-expanding human population, we must also consider habitat conservation and seek to preserve the rich biodiversity found in the Fraser Valley that supports and enriches our lives.
Man is responsible for the extinction of the North American megafauna (Donlan 2005, Rubenstein et al. 2006). Since our ancestors are responsible for the extinction, it’s our duty to fix what our ancestors have destroyed (Donlan 2005). Moreover, according to Donlan (2005) most megafauna species in Africa and Asia are endangered or under threat. Hence, relocating them to North American is a best way of conserving them because the country carries “Global conservation implications” and contrary to that Africa and Asia practice poor conservation strategies (Donlan 2005). He further argues that N...
International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, n.d. Web. 29 Mar 2012. http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/20731/0
Long-term survival of a species depends on its ability to adapt to changing environmental conditions (Murphy, 1994). Genetic diversity within a species, which has taken 3.5 billion years to evolve, makes adaptations to these changing environments possible. Unfortunately, the rate of extinction of genetically diverse organisms is rapidly increasing, thus reducing this needed biodiversity, largely due to the human impacts of development and expansion. What was an average of one extinction per year before is now one extinction per hour and extinct species numbers are expected to reach approximately one million by the year 2000 (WWW site, Bio 65). As a result governmental and societal action must be taken immediately!
The Convention on Biological Diversity (hereafter: “CBD”) is an international treaty adopted by United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, held at Rio de Janeiro in June 1992 and came into force on December 29, 1993. Initially when it came into force there were 168 members now it is 193 in total. The aim to protect biodiversity and the dramatic steps taken for conservation, sustainable use and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits attracted the world communities to become members (History of the Convention, n.d). In principle the convention on biological diversity changed the ownership concept of biodiversity protection i.e. (“common heritage of humankind”) to the “sovereign right” of each member country (Hirsch, 2012). It is the responsibility of the each member to develop and implement policies in a way that helps in the conservation and sustainable use of biological resources. It also recognizes the knowledge of local and indigenous people for conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity (Brahmi et al., 2004).The article 8(j) of CBD has an important provision which gives the member state rights to “respect, preserve and maintain” traditional style and knowledge about the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity. The protection must promote the wider application of such knowledge and stimulate innovation and also ensure that the benefits are shared in fair and equitable manner to the communities.
There as not only been a decreased number of species from this environmental crisis; but even in parts of the globe were exotic living beings used to flourish, now are at an all-time low when it comes to how many of them are left of this Earth. “Today we’re living through the sixth great extinction, sometimes known as the Holocene extinction event.” (Whitty, 2015) In future generations, those kids would be lucky if they even get to see a rhino or elephant in their life because of how much these animals are exploited and slaughtered for nothing other than blind greed. “Of the 40,168 species that the 10,000 scientists in the World Conservation Union have assessed, one in four mammals, one in eight birds, one in three amphibians, on in three conifers and other gymnosperms are at risk of extinction.” (Whitty, 2015) In the latest centuries recorded extinctions, the current rate is one hundred times the background rate. It’s shocking that on average somewhere between 2.7 and 270 species are eliminated from existence every day. If we remain on the road of frivolous destruction, half of all the worlds’ plant and animal species will cease to exist. Keeping in mind that the circle of life does exist and animals and plants will eventually die just like all of us one day; but humans continually take advantage of natural resources and other living beings. The only way to save Earth’s membrane is to salvage what is left of its beauty and assemble its broken pieces back together. Surprisingly, not all hope in humanity is lost. The strive to rewilder North America is one of the many positive steps that need to be taken. Starting with reconnecting what remains of wilderness parks, sanctuaries, and national parks. In addition to those actions, North America must also rekindle the four broad “megalinkages” which include “the Rocky
Human beings are heavily reliant on nature’s biodiversity. This biodiversity, however, is threatened by accelerating extinction rates which are approaching past mass extinction levels. Human activities are largely responsible for this trend, and, while there has been some success in preserving select species, the scale of the impending extinction will necessitate the conservation of existing ecosystems if biodiversity is to be preserved. Fortunately, the relative geographical concentration of most biodiversity makes such efforts both possible and economically feasible.
Pimm, Stuart “Opinion: The Case of Species Revival”, news.nationalgeographic.com, 13 March 2013, 20 May 2014
"The Consequences of Global WarmingOn Wildlife." Consequences of Global Warming. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2014. .
NEED AND PURPOSE FOR CONSERVATION OF BIODIVERSITY Biodiversity conservation is about saving life on Earth in all its forms and keeping natural ecosystems functioning and healthy. Biodiversity is being depleted by the loss of habitat, fragmentation of habitat, over exploitation of resources, human sponsored ecosystems, climatic changes, pollution, invasive exotic species, diseases, shifting cultivation, poaching of wildlife etc. Since the human beings are enjoying all the benefits from biodiversity, they should take proper care for the preservation of biodiversity in all its forms and should prevent the degradation as well as the destruction of the habitats, thereby maintaining the biodiversity at its optimum level which will ultimately conserve the biodiversity for the future generation. The United Nations designated 2011-2020 as the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity. In biodiversity, each species, no matter how big or small, has an important role to play in ecosystems.
Thousands of species have become extinct over the last four decades as a result of changes in land use and as a result of global warming. Whether or not the millions of species can adapt and evolve to climate changes is debatable. As this brief overview will report, the human species is not adapting well to the changes. It must be remembered that increases in the levels of carbon dioxide are certainly responsible for the risk many species face, but so is the way land is used, e.g., rain forest destruction. There is a feedback loop wherein plant life and the climate are interdependent. Each affects the other. When forests are cut down, temperatures in that area will rise. Rising temperatures cause other plant life requiring cooler temperatures To die off.
2. Loh, Jonathan. 2002, Living Planet Report 2002. The UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre <http://www.panda.org/downloads/general/LPR_2002.pdf>
According to World WildLife Fund, many ecosystems around the world are being destroyed, eliminating many plant and animal species that inhabit them (“Pollution”).
Currently there are many animal species that are endangered and could even go extinct. That is why we have protected areas that can ensure a healthy life for these animals. since 1990 there has been a large increase in these protected areas, they contain guards that are willing protect and ensure a sustainable environment limited to the protected area. We have seen an increase in protected land area from 8.9% to 14.6% on the earths surface from 1990 to 2014. And the protected marine area is around 5.3% on the earths surface. a significant portion of the world’s population depend on protected areas. CBD (The Convention on Biological Diversity) seeks to conserve at least 17 per cent of the world’s terrestrial areas and 10 per cent of coastal and marine areas by 2020 and this UNs goal when it comes to reduction of biodiversity loss. Some Mammals, Birds, and other species are currently heading for extinction faster than ever. In the recent years some countries such as Denmark and Sweden has managed to reduce extinction rate of some species and the UN Is currently working to get more countries to follow
World Commission on Protected Areas (1995-2006) WCPA West and Central Africa Region Key Issues The World Conservation Union