More handpicked essays just for you.
Brief note on importance of biodiversity
Note on importance of biodiversity
Brief note on importance of biodiversity
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Great Apes are at the brink of extinction due to deforestation, hunting, and bushmeat trade. Our closest cousins are now viewed as economic commodities rather than valuable agents to the environment and humanity. In order to explore this issue, there must be an examinitation of why primate populations are dwindling, if these populations can replenish themselves, and what measures the international community is taking to alleviate the problem. Bushmeat is a popular source of animal protein in West and Central Africa. With population rates on the rise, demand for bushmeat is projected to double in two decades. A study found that over 50 percent of the meat sold in markets was wild game with sales estimated at $50 million. Primate …show more content…
Biodiversity expert Robert Hepworth states, “By saving the great apes we will also be saving a whole raft of animal and plant species which exist in their remaining habitat.” The council of GRASP plans on using modern technology to track poachers and develop green tourism in protected areas. Television and print media have also taken on the story in Europe and Africa, which spawned a public desire for corrective action. Propositions for regulations on bushmeat trade have included gun control and implementing consequences for timber companies that do not meet bushmeat procedure …show more content…
Genetically, we are nearly identical. They are valuable to the environment and, as a result, to humans by maintaining forest species, which creates revenue, food, and medicine to local communities. Great Apes are not given a fair chance to sustain themselves with low reproduction rates during a rise in commercial hunting. That alone is too much without taking into consideration other forms of habitat disturbance occurring simultaneously. Campaign groups must remain persistent in their efforts to protect primates and educate not only the people intimately affected by the issue, but the global community as a whole. By placing awareness on a bigger platform, more people will become informed and want to take action to help save our great apes and, in turn, our
“By the time we’re done, it’s quite possible that there will be among the great apes not a single representative left, except, that is, for us,” Kolbert deduces (225). Hunting a species has caused the endangerment and extinction of many species of animals and plants. Six out of eight species of the world’s bears are categorized as “vulnerable” or “endangered” to extinct (222). Advocating for rights of endangered species, and protecting the forests they habitat is a noteworthy method to prevent extinction caused by humans. As an individual, one could help by supporting and donating to organizations such as the World Wildlife Fund, the National Wildlife Federation, the Wildlife Conservation Society, and more (262). Humans may ease their conscience by not actively killing endangered species, but protecting them
In his book, Planet Without Apes, Stanford introduces readers to apes, shows why the apes are endangered, how similar we are to apes, and why we should protect the apes. He does so in nine chapters – “Save the Apes”, “Heart of Darkness”, “Homeless”, “Bushmeat”, “Outbreak”, “In a Not-So-Gilded Cage”, “The Double-Edged Sword of Ecotourism”, “Ethnocide”, and “May There Always be Apes”. Stanford strategically chooses the name Planet Without the Apes, as a parody of the Hollywood franchise, hoping such a title would capture potential readers’ interests. Stanford does not simply tell us why we need to save the apes – he brings us on a journey with the apes and by the end of the book, we feel compelled to save the apes.
Wildlife conservationists are constantly working to supervise the rivers, forest, and other natural resources of Africa in order to preserve and protect them through prudent management. In Kenya, laws against trophy hunting has assisted these conservationists in maintaining wildlife populations. However, park rangers face a huge battle against the illegal poaching of these rare trophy animals, such as lions and elephants. In Asia, the demand for ivory continues to surge, despite the long-time ban on its international trade. The demand is so high that the Tanzanian government has developed plans to construct a commercial highway through the Serengeti in order to more efficiently trade goods with Asia (“The Need for Serengeti Watch”). However, the highway will also provide a faster route to the coast for ivory smugglers. The controversy surrounding the highway and its positive or negative effects on the economy, Tanzania as a whole, and the Serengeti is countless. Despite the debate over its benefits and...
A social outrage has broken recently amid the scandal surrounding Cecil the Lion’s death. Cecil was illegally hunted and killed by the American dentist Walter Palmer. Since then, it has caused the world to change their minds on the effects of trophy hunting. Succeeding the death of the renowned lion, a recent poll in America displays that, on a three to one margin, the respondents said they would rather be tourists in a country that prohibits trophy hunting, instead of one that does not. The debate is rising as more hunters proudly present their ‘trophy’ on social media.
...auch, S. (2006). Industrial development on logging frontiers in the Brazilian Amazon. International Journal of Sustainable Development, 9(3), 277-296.
In “Battle for the Amazon,” Jeff Tollefson highlights the numerous regulations implemented by the Brazilian government to decrease deforestation and details the role of U.S. companies in the fight against land clearing in the Amazon basin. Tollefson states that major U.S. companies “could be held accountable for marketing illegal products” that have been extracted from deforested land (21).
The global phenomenon of bushmeat hunting, which refers to the unsustainable harvest and consumption of non-domesticated, primarily terrestrial animals, poses a significant threat to both biodiversity and human health. Although humans have hunted wildlife for thousands of years, concern regarding the long-term impacts of unsustainable hunting of vulnerable species has grown substantially in recent decades. Primate species face a pronounced impact from hunting, given that approximately 30% of primate species are currently classified as endangered or critically endangered. Exploitation by bushmeat hunting will result in the depletion, and eventual extinction, of many species of primates. The loss of these primate species will consequently significantly
The only ray of hope for saving gorillas from extinction is conservation. A gradual rise in the population of mountain gorillas has taken place thanks to conservation programs. From the lowest point in 1980 when its numbers were just 254, it has now grown to 880.Similar efforts in the Campo Ma’an National Park in Cameroon and Cross River National Park of Nigeria has held some hope for the tiny population of Cross-river gorillas dwelling there. Recent surveys show that the counts for these apes have not gone below the 300 mark.But applying conservation measures to the lowland gorillas will be far more challenging given their wider habitat coverage. Efforts must be made to save the apes before it's too late.
Jen Viegas in the article , More Than Half of All Primates Threatened with Extinction , states that most primates like ape, monkey, tarsier, lemur and loris era threatened with extinction.Viegas supports his statement by explaining information about the threatening of these animals.He is also describing why they're threatened with extinction.First , Viegas states that 60% of primates are threatened with extinction , and 75% are declining in numbers.Then he explains that a species of monkey, called Miss Waldron’s red Colobus have already gone extinct.Viegas also states that the IUCN (The International Union for Conservation of Nature) found that human activities, for example, agriculture, wood harvesting, and livestock farming are mostly why
Of the five great apes, there is only one “lonely ape”. That ape I am speaking of is the orangutan. After discussing all five great ape species in class, orangutans were the most interesting and intriguing of the bunch, and for that I have chosen to conduct further research on them, and I will go over what I have learned about these animals, such as their environment, social structure, conservation status and efforts, past and present, population, etc. I’ll first start off with a little introduction to orangutans.
The Amazon forest faces threats like climate change, cattle ranching and agricultural expansion, badly planned infrastructure, illegal logging, oil exploration, gold mining, overharvesting of fish or other water species, commercial fishing, biopiracy and smuggling, poaching, and lastly damming. Eighty percent of cut down forest areas in the Amazon are cattle. Runoff from pastures pollutes rivers. Fires used to control fields often spread into the remaining forest. The people that commercial fish usually lose up to sixty percent of the fish due to spoilage. 232,000 square miles of Amazon has been destroyed due to logging. In the Amazon about sixty to eighty percent of logging is done illegally. Rainforests used to cover about fourteen percent of earth surface but now it is only six percent. If we don’t stop all these threats in about forty years there won’t be any rainforests at
These apes lose areas of habitat on a daily basis. They are also constantly slaughtered for meat and body parts. These two enormous contributors of great ape depletion are just unnecessary additional threats to the existence of our relatives. We must not forget that there is also disease and environmental catastrophes that kill off these intelligent human-like primates. Humans share up to 98% of their DNA. This makes the great apes a very valuable and important subject for study. There is a lot we can learn from them. Because we are so closely related, this may also be a link to global extinction. Perhaps a more thorough evaluation of each of the factors which contribute to the depletion of the four great apes may help to understand how damaging and unnecessary this depletion has become for them, as well as for us.
The total amount of habitat affected in the Brazilian Amazon was up from 208,000 km^2 when first analyzed in 1978 to 588,000 km^2 when revisited in 1988 (Skole and Tucker 1993:1909). As a primary reaction to the sudden increase of deforestation between the years of 1978 and 1988 the biodiversity of plants, animals, and habitat space decreased (Skole and Tucker 1993). When comparing the data sets above, the question that scientists and environmentalist began asking, was why this sudden increase in deforestation over a 10 year span was occurring (Skole and Tucker
Deforestation has been a problem in Latin America since the early 1900s and the dilemma is continuing to become more severe. Deforestation does not only have consequences on the environment, but also, the indigenous people and the economy. The logging industry in Latin America is often executed by multi-national companies that are not properly regulated. The land that has been home and cultivated indigenous development for centuries is being dissipated rapidly. Due to exponentially growing global population, there is an increased demand for low priced goods-- like timber, crops, and meat. Many Latin American countries choose to get revenue for selling goods over the health of their local ecosystems. The crisis of deforestation and habitat
The world’s natural resources are depleting as the humans exploit and abuse these precious assets. Deforestation is occurring on a daily basis as the humans are cutting down the trees in mass quantities. The number of trees available in the world are limited and can become scarce at any point. As the population increases, the need for the wood from the trees becomes more necessary. As time passes, an abundant amount of people become more dependent on the supply of trees, especially in the Amazon Rainforest. The effect of deforestation of the species living in the area, how the population impacts the diminution of trees, and the sustainable solutions all make up the present and future of deforestation.