The future of human civilization will be greatly affected by its capacity to preserve endangered species and their habitats. The variety of life on earth, ranging from mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians to insects, has been pushed to the brink of extinction. Conserving living resources and diverse life forms on earth is critical to human well-being not only because of their intrinsic and aesthetic worth but also because of tangible economic values derived from their proper management. In response to a growing recognition of the issue, international initiatives have been taken, since the early 1970’s, to develop mechanisms for viable and sustainable conservation and use of wildlife resources and habitat.
Species Extinction
According to various estimates, our planet has been home to as many as 500
million kinds of plants, animals, and microorganisms. Some scientific research
suggests that today the world contains between 10 and 80 million species, and
approximately 420 to 490 million species are estimated to have been terminated.
Careful scientific examination of ecosystem destruction indicates that as many
as 100 species are driven into extinction each day with an astounding annual
number of 36,000 species. These species are dying up to 1000 times faster than
their natural rate of extinction (Chiras, 1994). This alarming rate of extinction
is specifically induced by a variety of human influences.
Destroying or significantly changing just one part of interdependent relationships
among species harms the entire ecosystem. The extinction of one species follows
the elimination of other species which depend on that since many species have
developed complex mutual relationships with each other through their evolutionary
processes. The destruction of the rainforests, containing approximately half
of the earth’s species, illustrates this intricate relationship. Each
fallen tree brings down 10-30 other species with it, including monkeys, sloths,
bird nests, and rare orchids. Also gone are amphibians like poison dart frogs
which dwell on the microhabitat of moss- and fungi-blanketed branches. The ground-level
land is now stripped of vegetation full of microscopic bacteria and fungi, and
soil becomes hard and infertile.
The destruction of a vast track of a tropical rain forest is completed after
leaving only one small island of rain forest. Some species may manage to survive
devastation and flee to the remaining patch of an undisturbed forest. In a tiny
refugee patch overcrowded by huge immigration, food and shelter scarcity becomes
severe with the increased number of species. The conversion of a large habitat
to isolated islands reduces the interior of each forest patch and is inhospitable
since many species cannot simply breed in small patches of forest. Species have
evolved to avoid competing with one another within the same habitat. When species
who have adapted to different ecosystems are cast together, intense competition
in the pursuit of food and other scarce resources can result in species extinction.
Values
Human species are a dependent part of the delicate ecological balance, and our
own existence relies on millions of life forms. The loss of species has long-term,
cumulative effects for ecosystem stability with consequences which undermine
conditions for our survival. The health of larger ecological communities is
maintained by a variety of functions performed by all species. Ecosystems recycle
the chemical elements that make up soils and atmosphere. Nutrient cycling involves
actions of all life forms (plants as the base of the food chain, animals as
the consumers of plants, and decomposers such as bacteria). Whereas plants produce
protein and sugars in the form of leaves and fruits to be consumed by insects
and birds, their clients help their reproduction by pollinating flowers.
Biological resources have been used for supplying food, pharmaceuticals and
other physical needs for humans. The economic benefits provided by our fellow
species are astronomical; the origins of hundreds of products used every day
are traced back to wild species. A large percentage of the world’s medicines
are derived directly or indirectly from wild plants and animals. Wild species
with millions years of evolution can help human society meet the unknown challenges
of the present and future generations with scientific information that could
be of great practical value. Each vanishing species can mean the loss of an
opportunity to expand the breadth of human potential.
In addition, wildlife and their habitat provide a rich aesthetic resource separated
from their consumptive uses. Human attitudes toward wildlife have been changed
with the decline in tribal cultures and religions which respect the ecosystem’s
own needs, intrinsic values, cycles, and energies. Recognizing other organism’s
right to live and preserving endangered plants and animals are ethical issues,
especially with human acquisition of the means to destroy the world. Our life
is spiritually enriched by the sight of swans nudging her offspring for swim;
the lumbering grizzly bear on a grassy meadow; the graceful dive of the humpback
whale; and the power of an elephant (Chiras, 1994).
Causes of Extinction
Many species are vanishing at an unprecedented rate due to habitat destruction,
fragmentation or alteration, introduction of alien species, hunting and deliberate
extermination. In particular, habitat loss ranks as the leading cause of extinction
and remains as the greatest long-term threat to many endangered species. When
tropical rain forests, coral reefs, and wetlands are reduced, the existence
of species living in the habitat is seriously challenged. Once forests, wetlands,
rivers, islands or grasslands are rendered inhospitable to the inhabitants,
the progression toward species extinction proves difficult to reverse, since
this has serious ripple effects with the loss of resources that many species
depend on for their survival.
Natural habitats are destroyed by large-scale agriculture, cattle ranching,
logging, home building, hydroelectric dams, oil extraction, and mining operations.
A large number of landless poor people in Brazil and other developing countries
are encouraged to convert natural areas to farms by their governments. Logging
demands destroy forest habitats which are home to countless rare wildlife species,
and local agriculture sucks watersheds dry. There are also multiple threats
to migration with the destruction of summer and winter habitats and the resting
spots in between. Migration routes are either blocked or made difficult by human
land use patterns. For example, Caribou in Arctic Canada face loss of their
summer grazing tundra lands to oil drilling and pipeline installation; coniferous
forests farther south used for their winter home lost to the lumber industry.
A consistent decline in the population of migratory songbirds is attributed
to transformation of their summer habitats into suburbia, and the conversion
of their winter habitat in Central America to plantations.
Massive species extinction can also be attributed to climatic change, water
pollution, and atmospheric contamination. The essential habitat of countless
birds, marshes, and wetlands for aquatic life will be permanently flooded by
global warming. Unfavorable conditions for the survival of wild species are
created by emissions of contaminants affecting air and wild land. Poisoning
by DDT and other pesticides has taken a huge toll on the populations of eagles,
peregrine falcon, brown pelicans, the California condor, and other types of
wildlife.
The introduction of alien species into new territories, intentional or accidental,
brings native species into extinction. In particular, islands are vulnerable
to foreign species. This is illustrated by the extinction of ninety percent
of all bird species in Hawaii following the influx of domestic animals which
came with massive human settlement. In New Zealand, more than half the native
birds faced a similar fate.
Increased hunting, fishing, and other natural resource exploitation threaten
already stressed ecosystems. The world’s fishery stocks have been heavily
depleted by commercial fishing equipped with motorized boats and trawl nets.
Commercial hunting is systematically putting many currently threatened species
at further risk. The Asian medicine trade preys on bears for their gall bladders,
tigers for their bones, and rhinos for their horns. Smuggling rare, protected
species generates increased profits, and international illegal wildlife trade
becomes a lucrative business with the stakes being multi-billion dollars a year.
Wildlife trade has resulted, in particular, in a drastic decline in elephants,
bears, gorillas, rhinos, tigers, jaguars, and cheetahs.
The elephant is expected to be extinct in many parts of Africa in the near future
due to poaching and other systematic killings. Five hundred years ago, 10 million
elephants populated Africa’s forests and savannas. The elephant population
drastically dropped nearly 50 percent from an estimated 1.3 million in 1979
to 625,000 in 1989 (Princen, 1995).
Whale hunting is another widely known example. One species after another were
hunted town to the brink of extinction before commercial whaling was significantly
reduced by the International Whaling Commission’s regulations. In order
to keep their whaling industry alive, however, Japan, Norway, and Iceland continue
to harm whales under the guise of scientific research despite the international
ban. The world’s current economic system does not value diverse biological
resources. Wildlife is not put on a high priority on the agendas of many states
in the same way that oil or other mineral resources. Expanding economic demand
for more natural resources exposes many species to the spiral toward extinction.
Profit-craving corporations and government development projects are responsible
for disappearance of huge natural areas.
Strategies for Preservation
Traditional conservation efforts focus on the species level through devotion
of resources to the maintenance of individual species under pressure for the
most imminent danger of extinction. Given insufficient knowledge and resources,
only a tiny proportion of the world’s endangered species can be adequately
surveyed, and even far less will benefit from the recovery plans.
The allocation of scarce resources to the conservation of a small number of
high profile or priority species may not overall prove the most efficient, because
this approach does not benefit any other species under threats. Where diversity
is unquantifiable with undescribed species, large areas of habitats have to
be protected. All of the species will have a better chance of survival if an
entire ecological community is left intact.
The goals of conservation must be widened to embrace species everywhere because
the maintenance of a complicated web of mutually dependent relationships is
important to the survival of many species. Diversity within and between species
is critical to the balance of the ecological complexes. Genetic variation is
necessary even at the smallest level of the population in order to evolve or
to adapt to changes in the environment. At the same time, the conservation of
biodiversity can be considered at different levels (such as the genetic, ecosystem,
and landscape) with each level supporting the next. Ecosystem-level conservation
action needs to be based on the notion that the web of mutually beneficial interactions
between different life forms is woven by species living in a particular ecosystem.
Maintaining ecological integrity can be designed to enhance the ability of ecosystems
to cope with stress and build their self-organizational capacities.
The stability of a wildlife species population is affected by the extent to
which the habitat supplies the needs of that species in the complex natural
communities. Dramatic changes in a physical or organic environment can have
a long-range impact on species relationships. The least possible degradation
for wilderness is to preserve naturalness with a lack of visible human activities.
A natural process has to be allowed, to the greatest extent possible, so as
to not disturb natural distributions and interactions of indigenous species
of wildlife.
The long-term challenge of preventing species from becoming endangered is to
protect natural habitat. To maintain representative ecosystems or important
habitat types, a network of protected areas can be designated through controls
on land use. In some Latin American countries, part of the rainforest was turned
over to indigenous people who wanted to maintain sustainable living as common
lands. In Venezuela, a permanent title to a region of the forest, similar in
size to Austria, was transferred to a native tribe (Chiras, 1994).
The emerging consensus is that the larger reserved areas, the better for conserving
species. Many species need a vast range for hunting or grazing or migrate to
seek their favorite weather patterns outside the borders of reserved areas.
In small islands of habitats, populations are reduced below the levels which
are critical to successful reproduction. Since many preserve areas are too small
scale to support all the species they shelter, establishing buffer zones and
connecting corridors are essential for wide-ranging species. Reserved natural
habitats can be further protected with the establishment of buffer zones surrounding
them and restriction of such human activity as timber cutting or cattle grazing.
A strip of land can be set aside as the wildlife corridor to connect isolated
patches of habitat for animals trapped in small habitat fragments by human settlement.
In addition to preventing further degradation of naturalness, areas below a
minimum standard need to be restored. Ecological restoration could remain the
last resort with the radical eradication of a native ecosystem. Regular surveys
and monitoring wildlife and their habitat can be conducted to restore damaged
wildlife habitat. Through habitat restoration, a system should re-gain the ability
to maintain productivity in spite of perturbations. Restoration efforts can
focus on entire habitat ranges with as much repair as possible for the damage
done through reforestation of protected and adjacent areas. Wilderness management
has to be based on the understanding that nature alone is powerless to mitigate
ever-present human influences. The ability of natural systems to recover from
disturbance needs to be seriously considered in land-use planning. Most development
practice ignores the distributional characteristics of species further facilitating
habitat destruction.
Resolving Human/Wildlife Conflict
In many areas of the world with rapidly growing human populations and expanding
economies, designing practical solutions to resolve human/wildlife conflict
is a top priority. Human/wildlife conflicts create difficulties for protecting
a large number of threatened endemic species of wildlife. Elephants, especially
in densely populated parts of the world, are under an extreme threat largely
as the result of the protected areas just being too small to meet the ecological
needs of the animals. Hundreds of elephants are killed each year in Sri Lanka
because they intrude into agricultural land. To save elephants would require
managing them across landscapes. This kind of conflict can be managed by the
optimal use of land. By realizing the benefit from living harmoniously with
their wild neighbors, local residents can become partners. A non-destructive
economic role can be fashioned in integrating local people’s needs. Saving
threatened species from extinction requires collaborative projects with local
scientists and educators as well as villagers and the park administration.
National Parks
Reserve status needs to be granted before any massive deforestation for the
effectiveness of formal conservation strategies which hinge on national parks
and reserves. National parks should be large enough to ensure the conservation
of important ecosystems on adjacent land. An alarming decline in the number
of species is reported in all national parks but the largest ones; this is largely
related to insufficient space for all the inhabitants. Setting aside larger
areas for protection in developing countries may not be politically and economically
feasible without financial support of developed countries.
Some national parks, in particular, with pristine stretches of rainforest in
the world have become one of the fastest growing tourist destinations. The government
of Indonesia created a park in West Java to protect the only viable populations
of Javan gibbon, leaf monkey, and a host of other endemic plants and animals.
Peru’s Manu National Park and Biosphere Reserve houses a variety of plant
and animal life, including monkeys, reptiles, birds, and insects. As one of
the largest, least touched reserves in the world, Manu offers its inhabitants
ample room for sustained growth, but some species are still in danger due to
human intrusion.
Eco-tourism can be beneficial to the local economy, and provide incentives for
preservation. Wildlife policies of Kenya and other countries which heavily rely
on tourism are affected by foreign perceptions. At the same time, a growing
eco-tourism industry that capitalizes on the region’s natural beauty can
be detrimental to the environment if improperly managed. The destruction will
not stop, although some forests may pay their way through an upsurge in eco-tourism.
International Conservation Efforts
In protecting wildlife and wild lands, international nongovernmental organizations
pour expertise and funds into conservation projects. The Nature Conservancy
and the Trust for Public Lands have been engaged in a direct purchase of habitat
for rare and endangered species. World Wildlife Fund has worked with partners
in the Southwestern Amazon to establish protected areas and conserve natural
resources, culminating in the official recognition of Manu National Park in
1973.
The World Conservation Union (IUCN) compiles a Red List of Endangered species
to provide policy guidance for governments and international organizations.
Expertise in wildlife research can be developed by collaboration with local
academic and research institutions. Wildlife Trust (known as Wildlife Preservation
Trust International until 2000) has been working with Asian Elephant Research
and Conservation Center in Bangalore, India. The activities of the National
Wildlife Federation, Sierra Club, Audobon Society, and Wilderness Society are
concentrated on lobbying activities in the legislative arena.
Trade Regulations
International attention has also been paid to the regulation of trade of products
made from endangered species of plants or animals. Rapacious poachers and traders
have reduced the number of rhinoceros and panda to perilously small populations
through uncontrolled illegal trade. Without an effective international control
over wildlife trade, illegal trade will destroy our wildlife heritage. The Convention
on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)
was negotiated in 1973 to provide an international standard for wildlife trade,
and the treaty was ratified by more than 150 states covering over ninety percent
of the world’s population.
By prohibiting uncontrolled exploitation through the regulation of commercial
trade in endangered species, the treaty was designed to obtain the goal of rational
and sustainable conservation of the living resources for their own sake and
human benefit. The treaty members issue permits to regulate trade in wildlife
based on the assessment of a threat to the survival of the species. Trade for
species in the endangered list (for example, the great whales, all sea turtles
and many other reptiles, elephants, tigers, monkeys, and gorillas) is either
prohibited or subject to authorization. Species considered less threatened (like
the red-breasted toucan) have limited protection, and their future status will
be based on scientific determination of extinction status.
These lists of endangered species to be protected from unregulated trade are
agreed on by the biannual CITES convention meetings. Although CITES can be effective
in some cases, many threatened species are not included in the totally protected
category due to commercial interests. An equally important issue is government
commitment to the implementation of the treaty that since upholding the agreements
totally relies on member countries.
National Management Programs
Species-by-species protection has been put in place by the Endangered Species
Act in the U.S. and similar laws in other countries. The 1973 Endangered Species
Act was passed in response to the plight of wildlife and plants in the United
States and abroad by Congress. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is required
to list endangered and threatened species which are classified primarily on
the basis of their population size and rate of population decrease. Federal
programs were established by the Endangered Species Act to protect the habitat
of listed species. In addition, the law prohibits the import of these species
and lends technical assistance to other countries for protection of their endangered
and threatened species. Severe penalties are imposed on smugglers engaged in
the trade of endangered species.
Future Actions
Whereas worldwide efforts need to be intensified to set aside old-growth forests
and other regions of biodiversity, a high population pressure has placed hundreds
of thousands of wildlife species at a great risk with a demand for further resources.
The spread of human populations to natural habits would not be slowed without
control over human population growth rates through family planning services.
Financial resources need to be made available to help impoverished or debt ridden
tropical countries which contain most of the world’s diverse ecosystems.
Rich countries should share the cost for wildlife preservation since it is an
issue of common human heritage.
The Convention on Biological Diversity was agreed at the United Nations Conference
on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro by 154 nations in June
1992, and it came into force in December 1993. Its objectives are to ensure
the sustainable use of biological diversity and the equitable sharing of benefits
from use of genetic resources. The treaty specifies that developed countries
should assist in capacity-building and the transfer of technology and finance
while recognizing that socio-economic development is the overriding priority
in developing countries
The protection of biodiversity on public and private land needs to be mandated
by more stringent environmental laws at a national level. Many programs such
as the Endangered Species Act (combined with biodiversity reserves, buffer zones,
and connecting corridors) are certainly helpful for improvement in wildlife
management, but they are stopgap measures. Any of these measures alone cannot
be adequate enough to keep pace with burgeoning agricultural development, urbanization,
and other human demands.
The pressures endangering many species can be controlled by confronting the
underlying causes of wildlife extinction, namely habitat destruction and pollution.
Wildlife conservation can be considered in a large context of environmental
protection issues such as recycling, renewable resource use and population control.
To live with the biological principles of sustainability demands, systematic
changes are needed in the way we conduct business. Efficient utilization of
resources would greatly reduce habitat destruction caused by timber harvesting
and mining. Recycling minimizes our need for the consumption of more natural
resources as well as the amount of pollution. Turning to renewable energy resources
such as sunlight and wind could be part of solution to global warming, acid
deposition, and oil spills which have a devastating impact on natural habitats.
Long-term conservation depends upon a drastic change in human perceptions of
nature. In practicing sustainability, individual level actions can become an
essential part of the solution. A great many people live too far from ecosystems
to develop any understanding of our dependence upon nature. Only a small minority
in most parts of the world (e.g., indigenous people) maintains a sustained way
of living. The challenge will remain that any measures to reduce species loss
have to be tailored to the ecosystem and the local community.
Further Reading
Ackerman, Diane, “The Rarest of the Rare: Vanishing Animals,” Timeless
World, New York: Random House, 1995.
Becher, Anne, Biodiversity, Contemporary World Issues Series, Santa Barbara:
ABC-CLIO, 1998.
Chiras, Daniel D., Environmental Science: Action for a Sustainable Future, Fourth
Edition, New York: The Benjamin/Cummings Publishing Company, Inc., 1994.
Groombridge, Brian, “Biodiversity” in D. Brune, D.V. Chapman, M.D.
Gwynne and J.M. Pacyna, The Global Environment: Science, Technology and Management,
Vol. 1. Oslo: Scandinavian Science Publishers, 1997. pp. 550-566.
Jewell, Susan D., “Fixing All the Parts,” Endangered Species Bulletin,
November 1998, volume 23, issue 6, p. 23.
Melchias, Gabriel, Biodiversity and Conservation, Enfield: Science, 2001.
Oliver, Jan, “What Will the Next Century Mean for Wildlife?” Wildlife
Australia, Summer 2000, volume 36, issue 4, pp. 3-5.
Princen, Thomas, “Ivory, Conservation, and Environmental Transnational
Coalitions” in T. Risse-Kappen, editor, Bringing Transnational Relations
Back In: Non-State Actors, Domestic Structures and International Institutions,
New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995. pp. 227-253.
The Environmental Resource Handbook, Millerton: Grey House Publishing, 2001.