CONSERVATION FOR THE PEOPLE
- Preserving biodiversity for its own sake, particularly in areas call hot spots, is not working as a conservation strategy.
- Focusing on protecting ecosystems vital to people's health and material needs make more sense.
- Such ecosystems would include not only forests but also wetlands that maintain clean water, mangroves that shield against storms and reefs that sustain fisheries.
- Saving these site can preserve biodiversity and ensure that people are a priority.
- Dust from degraded grassland ecosystems in sub-Saharan Africa travels far afield in wind, harming coral reefs, tourism and fisheries in the Caribbean.
- The United Nations identified 4 kinds of ecosystem services:
* Provisioning - supplying food/ genetic resources)
* Regulating - providing flood control, climate modulation or other similar functions)
* Cultural - offering nonmaterial benefits such as a sense of place and spiritual well-being)
* Supporting - nutrient cycling, soil formation or pollination)
- Populations of all long-billed, slender-billed or Oriental white-back reached nearly 40 million in India and South Asia in early 90s but had fallen by more than 97%.
- The birds were being killed by an anti-inflammatory drug, diclofenac, commonly administed to cows.
- Saving the vultures from extinction would protect people from dangerous disease.
- There are 2 strategies:
* hot-spots - identify threatened areas with high plant diversity and protect them
* ecosystem services - identify ecosystems that are gravely threatened and whose impairment will harm local residents.
- When India's vultures started dying, the ramifications for humans were not immediately clear - until the threat of rabies from increased number of feral dogs feasting on animal carcasses made the link explicit. Saving wildlife often saves people too.
- One recent survey showed that only 30% of Americans have heard of the term " biodiversity"
- More forests and wetlands will be cleared for agriculture, and more ocean species will be fished to depletion. Biodiversity is going to decline.
From a selfish point of view, humans should be concerned about saving biodiversity because of the benefits it provides us-biological resources and ecosystem services. However, nature provides social and spiritual benefits as well.
Physical features of an ecosystem affect what species survive there. That meant, if we would like to protect our species, we supposed to protect our ecosystem first such as desert ecosystem, wetland ecosystem, etc. Why does ecosystem important? Ecosystem services are processes provided by nature that support human life. These services include the decomposition of waste, pollination, water purification, moderation of floods, and renewal of soil fertility. All we can do now are support conservationists, environmentalists, and scientists by donate money or volunteering. Be responsible for our environment.
http://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/conservation-of-biodiversity-13235087
So what?
- Saving animals lives often save our lives too. We have to educated ourselves how important these species are, and how to protect them, not only animals but our biomes too.
What if?
- All endangered species perfectly extinct? Then this planet will ruin, the ecosystems destroyed, humans start dying.
Says who?
- Peter Kareiva and Michelle Marvier.
What does this remind of?
- This reminds me of the * saving our planet * article that I read in 8th grade. Many group of conservationists try several of strategies to solve the problem. We need to assist them to do it too, because this is our world.
- Focusing on protecting ecosystems vital to people's health and material needs make more sense.
- Such ecosystems would include not only forests but also wetlands that maintain clean water, mangroves that shield against storms and reefs that sustain fisheries.
- Saving these site can preserve biodiversity and ensure that people are a priority.
- Dust from degraded grassland ecosystems in sub-Saharan Africa travels far afield in wind, harming coral reefs, tourism and fisheries in the Caribbean.
- The United Nations identified 4 kinds of ecosystem services:
* Provisioning - supplying food/ genetic resources)
* Regulating - providing flood control, climate modulation or other similar functions)
* Cultural - offering nonmaterial benefits such as a sense of place and spiritual well-being)
* Supporting - nutrient cycling, soil formation or pollination)
- Populations of all long-billed, slender-billed or Oriental white-back reached nearly 40 million in India and South Asia in early 90s but had fallen by more than 97%.
- The birds were being killed by an anti-inflammatory drug, diclofenac, commonly administed to cows.
- Saving the vultures from extinction would protect people from dangerous disease.
- There are 2 strategies:
* hot-spots - identify threatened areas with high plant diversity and protect them
* ecosystem services - identify ecosystems that are gravely threatened and whose impairment will harm local residents.
- When India's vultures started dying, the ramifications for humans were not immediately clear - until the threat of rabies from increased number of feral dogs feasting on animal carcasses made the link explicit. Saving wildlife often saves people too.
- One recent survey showed that only 30% of Americans have heard of the term " biodiversity"
- More forests and wetlands will be cleared for agriculture, and more ocean species will be fished to depletion. Biodiversity is going to decline.
From a selfish point of view, humans should be concerned about saving biodiversity because of the benefits it provides us-biological resources and ecosystem services. However, nature provides social and spiritual benefits as well.
Physical features of an ecosystem affect what species survive there. That meant, if we would like to protect our species, we supposed to protect our ecosystem first such as desert ecosystem, wetland ecosystem, etc. Why does ecosystem important? Ecosystem services are processes provided by nature that support human life. These services include the decomposition of waste, pollination, water purification, moderation of floods, and renewal of soil fertility. All we can do now are support conservationists, environmentalists, and scientists by donate money or volunteering. Be responsible for our environment.
http://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/conservation-of-biodiversity-13235087
So what?
- Saving animals lives often save our lives too. We have to educated ourselves how important these species are, and how to protect them, not only animals but our biomes too.
What if?
- All endangered species perfectly extinct? Then this planet will ruin, the ecosystems destroyed, humans start dying.
Says who?
- Peter Kareiva and Michelle Marvier.
What does this remind of?
- This reminds me of the * saving our planet * article that I read in 8th grade. Many group of conservationists try several of strategies to solve the problem. We need to assist them to do it too, because this is our world.