Transcript Threats to Biodiversity - School

Lesson Aims
To understand the main threats to biodiversity
 Unsustainably high population growth and
resource consumption
 Inequality in the ownership, management and
flow of benefits which threaten the livelihoods of
the world’s poorest
 Concentration of agriculture, forestry and fishing
on a narrowing spectrum of products
 Economic system developed by governments
and business that fail to value the environment
and its resources
 Legal and institutional systems that promote
unsustainable exploitation at the expense of
more sustainable options
 Lack of knowledge and understanding in the
management and conservation of biodiversity
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Threats to Biodiversity
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 Use the print out (p103-p104) to write an answer
to the following question:
“WHAT ARE THE THREATS TO BIODIVERSITY?”
 Why is it a hotspot? - It’s a hotspot because of
their endemism and the severe threat facing the
unique ecosystem
 What is the threat? – invasive species from
mainland Ecuador were introduced in order to
bolster fishing and tourism
 Up to 60% of the 180 species if endemic plant
are considered ‘threatened’
 Recorded 490 introduced insect species, with 55
of these as ‘high risk’ to cause severe damage
to native biodiversity
 18 introduced vertebrate species introduced,
with 13 considered harmful
 Mainland snake predators could soon establish
themselves
 What’s being done? –
eradication of feral cats
and rodents, rounding
up stray dogs and
removing the quinine
tree, a serious alien
plant invader.
 What’s the biggest
pressure? – the
thousands of tourists
who visit every year to
marvel at what Charles
Darwin first saw in 1835
 Borneo is divided between Indonesia, Malaysia
and Brunei. The vegetation is tropical rainforest
and supports a wide range of biodiversity
 One of Malaysia’s main exports is palm oil, which
is used in lipstick, soap and cooking oil.
 To set up the monoculture the areas is cleared,
first by felling commercial timber and then burning
the rest