Importance Of Wildlife Conservation

Wildlife conservation means protecting the environment as well as the plants and animals that reside in these environments. The need for wildlife conservation grows every day due to problems such as deforestation, pollution, and poaching. As humans urbanize more land, the habitats of plants and animals are destroyed, causing them to relocate, or even die. The death of these plants and animals can lead to the extinction of an entire species. The benefits of preserving species for the future through wildlife conservation efforts strongly outweigh the short-term costs.

In just twenty short minutes, 3,500 human lives are added to the world. However, in these same twenty minutes, an entire species of animal or plant life becomes extinct (The African Conservancy 1). This fact signals a huge problem: mass extinction. While extinction constitutes a major part of life, it typically occurs at a rate of one to five species per year. Today, however, scientists estimate plants and animals are being lost up to 10,000 times this rate, with dozens of species going extinct every day (Greenwald). The only way to combat this problem is through wildlife conservation.

One of the main reasons for the rapid growth in extinction rates includes deforestation. Eighty-five percent of the species listed as “threatened” or “endangered” are in danger as a direct result of habitat destruction. Every minute, approximately fifty thousand square miles of forests are destroyed. The intensive harvesting of timber, wood for fuel, and other products from forests are just a few reasons these forests are being destroyed. Other reasons include overgrazing and the expansion of agricultural land. Over half of the forests in the world have already been destroyed and this nu...

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...eir skin and bones (“Poaching”) However, many other types of animals are the victim of poaching, including bears, big-horned sheep, alligators, and even birds (The Humane Society of The United States). While poaching is illegal, the significant profits from illegal wildlife trade draw many people to it (“Poaching”). The easiest way to decrease the amount of poaching is to enforce existing laws, create stricter laws, and increase the sentences for convicted poachers.

It is impossible to ignore the devastating effects of deforestation, water pollution, and poaching. However, through wildlife conservation efforts, these effects can be reduced, or even stopped. When considering the economic costs of deforestation, pollution and poaching and the potential future benefits of preserving species, the short term costs of wildlife conservation efforts are more than justified.