Sabah wildlife is in trouble. Many of the animals found in Sabah, Malaysia Borneo exits no where else on earth. It is mostly because of the local hunting culture and illegal wildlife activities. Indigenous people have been hunting for generations. Only 100 years ago, Bornean Headhunters were still in action. Already this year we lost two species of rhinoceros in the world. The West African Black Rhino, and Javan Rhino of Vietnam (source: The Atlantic Wire). There are no Sumatran rhinos left in the wild in the Malaysian state of Sabah, confirmed Masidi Manjun, the Tourism Culture and Environment Minister. In 2008, conservationists estimated there were around 50 rhinos in the stare. Five years later, it dropped that estimate to just ten. Now, …show more content…
Biodiversity is essential for a healthy and functional ecosystem. If wildlife is extracted from its natural habitat, the delicate balance of the ecosystem will be disturbed which will then lead to disastrous results. For instance, there is a wide diversity of species living in a tropical rain forest. If any species should become extinct, the food chain will be disrupted affecting all the species. Wildlife maintains ecological balance and the organisms have their unique positions in food chains, food webs which keep ecological balance. The bee for example. Certain plant species completely rely on bees to reproduce. The bee carries their pollen (male gametes) to the female stigma of other plants of that species. If not for the bee, some species of plant would not survive, and animals that eat those plants may not survive. According to WWF-Worldwide Fund for Nature, today only half of Borneo’s original forest cover remains, down from 75% in the mid 1980s. Experts predict that, without quick action, within 10 years nearly all of Borneo’s lowland forest will disappear. For this reason, promoting biodiversity is one of the main reasons why we should protect wildlife. Borneo’s forests are disappearing at the rate of 1.3 million hectares each year driven by multiple factors including road building, logging the development of palm plantations, and forest fires. The growing desire of international markets for hardwoods has accelerated logging activity. Once cleared, nearly all land is converted to palm oil plantations. There are currently 2.5 million hectares under palm oil production on Borneo, although that number continues to rise
Think for a moment of a world without bees; a world without our buzzing friend. They might look like they barely do much to help our ecosystem. However, bees are a vital part of our agriculture and this makes it vital that we keep them around. The bee population decline in recent years is troubling for both us and our little friends. As their friends, we must do all we can in order to ensure their survival which in turn will ensure our own.
Decline in bumble bee species have been studied extensively in the past 60 years in regards to the European species. Only recently has data on the American species been gathered, which has been collected since the 90´s. According to D. Goulson, G.C Lye and B. Darvill the decline in bee populations is primarily driven by; habitat loss, the decline in floral diversity and abundance, monoculture agriculture, pesticides, inbreeding, commercial trafficking, pathogens and environmental and demographic stochastic. What’s clear is that the drivers, which threaten the pollinating services to wildflowers and crops, are widespread. The solution is simple but requires a reform in the way society is structured; all the large scaled monoculture crops must leave space for habitat/floral (which words seems better?) biodiversity, which is needed to support viable bee populations in the long term. The information gathered in this journal has been greatly beneficial to my research, not only has it thoroughly explained some of the drivers behind bee decline and possible solutions in great detail with citations referring to other viable sources, it has given me a new perspective on the importance of bees to the human race. Bees need flowers to survive, it is a mutually dependent relationship, and if one of the two partners is going extinct it will drive the other to extinction as well. This is called an ”extinction vortex”. Understanding the importance of bees to the survival humans might ...
GreenPalm (2015) states how ‘the removal of acres of rainforest threatens the rich biodiversity’ in the ‘ecosystems’. Highlighting the risks of the cutting of the oil palm trees to produce the palm oil to both the environment and also the organisms which live within the areas, as certain species in the areas of the clearing of land, mainly with the palm oil ‘exported from Indonesia and Malaysia’ according to Say-No-To-Palm-Oil (2015), face possible extinction. There is still however ways in which the production of palm oil can be sustainable to the environment, as palm oil is essential for the use by humans because of the containment of the nutrients and also with the production of foods and
Environmental issues affect every life on this planet from the smallest parasite to the human race. There are many resources that humans and animal needs to survive; some of the most obvious resources come from the forests. Forests make up a large percentage of the globe. The forests have global implications not just on life but on the quality of it. Trees improve the quality of the air that species breath, determine rainfall and replenish the atmosphere. The wood from the forests are used everyday form many useful resources. Moreover, thinning the forests increases the amount of available light, nutrients and water for the remaining trees. Deforestation (forest thinning) is one of the most critical issues of environmental problems that are occurring today.
Part 1 A. Understanding animal behavior is crucial aspect of becoming an Animal Care Worker, and to successfully work with animals you must be able to understand what they are communicating to you. Since animals are not capable of speaking to us and just telling us what is wrong or why they are performing a certain behaviour, we must be able to analyze and understand what they are saying in their language for reasons such as the safety of ourselves, the animal, and the people we work with, and applying behavioural modifications to counter undesirable behaviours. Many animals perform behaviours that can be difficult to interpret or that seem irrational, but with an understanding of animal behaviour we can apply our knowledge to help find the
Rainforests once covered 14% of the worlds land surface, however now it only covers a mere 6%. It is estimated that all rainforests could be consumed in less than 40 years. Trees are becoming more needed and used everyday. We need them cut down for many reasons such as paper and timber, while also needing them ‘untouched’ for other reasons like oxygen, we have to ask ourselves, which is more important? At the current rate, most of the rainforests are being cut down for resources like paper and timber, but less importance is being placed on main resources like oxygen.
Many of the issues of biodiversity loss can be traced back to human interaction to the environment. One of the issues is alteration and loss of habitats. A lot of this issue is based on the destruction of habitats and for the land to be used for human consumption. The land is either used up for agricultural use or for neighborhoods. Destroying habitats and building them for our own use can have a positive impact on our way of living but a negative impact on the environment. We would gain land for building land for crops and communities to be built. The habitat for the animals would be destroyed and the species local to the land would either relocate or die. There are restrictions to deforesting land and there are organizations to help protect the land.
Biodiversity crisis is the accelerating loss of species diversity and ecosystems mainly because of human actions. Biodiversity crisis is a greater threat to the survival of human beings on the earth because human beings are entirely dependent on biodiversity for livelihoods. The direct uses of biodiversity includes food, fiber, medicine, fuel wood, timber, building materials, industrial products (waxes, rubber, oils), and like. The indirect benefits of biodiversity are mainly the ecosystems services such as water purification, nutrient cycling, carbon sequestration, climate regulation, soil and water conservation, water quality, pollination, nutrient cycling and like. Currently, a large number of poor people in the developing world rely directly
Wildlife crimes are unfortunately becoming an increasingly more common occurrence around the world. There are many different types of wildlife crimes, but they all share the unfortunate consequences of degradation of our environment, our natural ecosystems, and our way of life. In this essay, I will be looking at what exactly is wildlife crime, some of the reasons why wildlife crimes committed, and what can be done to reduce or even eliminate wildlife crimes as a whole.
Loss of biodiversity is an environmental issue that is causing a lot of global concern. Some of the main causes for loss in biodiversity are alteration of habitats, increasing levels of pollution and human population growth. There are measures that are being taken worldwide to prevent loss of biodiversity. Many wildlife sanctuaries have been built worldwide to preserve the lives of various endangered species. However, it is important to remember that every individual has a role in the protection of wildlife and biodiversity. Every human being should play his part of the role by following simple rules such as stopping others from the hunting of endangered species, preventing deforestation, encouraging reforestation and creating awareness among fellow human beings.
Everyone’s all seen those wildlife shows on tv. The shows on National Geographic and such, showing animals in beautiful environments, everything lush and growing and nothing at all wrong that could threaten these creatures and places. But, have anyone seen the other side? The side where all these beautiful creatures and plants starve, are decimated by predators that have never been there before, and sometime even become poisoned by their very own homes and habitats? Of course no one has. That doesn’t mean that its not happening. It is happening, and its happening everywhere. And guess who is to blame? People. Society. Humans as a race pollute the environment, hunt animals simply for their parts, fish way more than humans will ever need just for the sake of money, introduce new species to new places for our own gain, and even purposefully destroy entire regions just for human expansion. And its starting to take its toll. While it is true that nature is constantly in flux and certain species come and go, humans are causing more species to disappear in the past few hundred years then nature has ever caused since the age of the dinosaurs, and therefore it is up to humans to repair the damage caused, be it cleaning the environment and habitats of these creatures, or taking more direct action to protect and preserve the species that are on the brink of extinction.
The dynamic natural environment and abundant wildlife are the most prominent features of the African continent. Due to its wide variety of biomes ranging from tropical forests to arid deserts, Africa consists of bountiful wildlife diversity. However, because of environmentally harmful human interactions, the variety of biomes is shrinking to all-time lows, which causes wildlife to die out. These detrimental human interactions, particularly livestock overgrazing and desertification, occur partly because the native people who depend on the land for daily life do not realize the potential benefits of wildlife and the unsustainability of their current ways. Poaching for horns and other valuable animal parts has also contributed to the decreasing amount of species present in the wild. However, the methods for conserving the wildlife environment differ in how they address the issue of the dwindling wildlife populations. The conventional method of conservation created in the mold of the Convention Relative to the Preservation of Fauna and Flora in their Natural State (also known as the London Convention) involves the complete centralization of wildlife resources to the government. The newer, more effective method called the Sustainable Use Approach makes drastic changes to the London Convention principles by decentralizing ownership of wildlife and allowing small communities and villages to manage it themselves.
Imagine a world with barren trees in overgrown fields. The only sound to be heard is the wind blowing through the tall grass. A world once full of life now lays empty do to extinction. This is the result of a world that failed to understand the importance of wildlife conservation. Why is wildlife so important? What steps need to be taken to preserve wildlife? How can one become involved in wildlife conservation? These are all important questions that need to be explored in order to help maintain the delicate ecosystem on Earth. Wildlife plays a vital role in this fragile ecosystem and without wildlife the human race would not survive.
The social and moral implications of diminishing rainforest biodiversity are great. From a human welfare perspective, the livelihoods of tens of millions of indigenous peoples depend on the forests, but thousands are being pushed out of their homes because they lack the shelter and support that the forest once gave them (Salim 3). These groups have "developed knowledge and cultures in accordance with their environment through thousands of years, and even physically they are adapted to the life in the forest" (Nyborg). For many of the people living in these areas, the forest is the only resource they have providing them with food, shelter and cultural ties. With the invasion and destruction of their homeland, rainforest peoples are also disappearing.
Shah, Anup. A. Addressing Biodiversity Loss. Global Issues, 6 Apr. 2011. The. Web. The Web.