Transcript Wilderness and the Conservation of Biological Diversity

Biodiversity:
Conservation and Threats
By
Jeffrey A. McNeely
[email protected]
III Brazilian Congress on Agroecology
19 October 2005
For millions of years, the Americas
were wilderness, left to wildlife
Once people arrived, things
started to change
Fire and technology helped early human immigrants
into the Americas drive some species to extinction,
such as the mammoth, giant ground sloth, and an
entire complex of edentates. Our lives are
impoverished for having lost these species.
But the hunting and gathering people who
arrived in the Americas also adapted, learning
how to conserve their natural resources in the
wilderness where they lived.
Agriculture developed independently in
several parts of the Western Hemisphere,
giving people greater control over nature,
even domesticating many species.
Later, mechanized agriculture -- often forced by
colonial or global sources of demand -- moved
across the land, replacing more wilderness,
further threatening wild biodiversity and
expanding the human population
We are consuming more food
Resource
Per capita increase
(1950-1990)
Grain
40%
Beef and mutton
26%
Fish
100%
The process of land conversion
continues to accelerate, sometimes
encroaching on legally protected areas.
Why do we need biodiversity?
IUCN Photo Library © Jim Thorsell
Ecosystem Services: the benefits
people obtain from ecosystems
Provisioning
Regulating
Cultural
Goods produced or provided
by ecosystems
• food
• fresh water
• fuel wood
• genetic resources
Benefits obtained from
regulation of ecosystem
processes
• climate regulation
• disease regulation
• flood regulation
Non-material benefits from
ecosystems
• spiritual
• recreational
• aesthetic
• inspirational
• educational
Supporting
Services necessary for production of other ecosystem services
• Soil formation
• Nutrient cycling
• Primary production
FORESTS
BENEFITS
• Absorption of carbon dioxide, a
greenhouse gas
• Wood and other forest products
• Biodiversity: drugs from plants
IUCN Photo Library © Jim Thorsell
FORESTS
Indicative costs if lost
• $7 million Likely cost to plant enough trees to offset one
million tons of carbon emitted annually from a mediumsize coal-fired power plant.
• $135 million Annual value of US and Canadian maple
syrup products. Pollution from midwestern power plants
threatens sugar maples in both countries.
• $1.6 billion Annual Sales of Taxol, an anticancer agent
first dervied from the bark of Pacific yew trees.
IUCN Photo Library © Ji
GRASSLANDS
BENEFITS
• Soil formation and
retention
• Gene pool for
crossbreeding grains
• Animal habitat
GRASSLANDS
Indicative costs if lost
• $9 trillion Value today of 200 million tons of topsoil blown
off US Great Plains in one 1934 dust storm. Prairie had
been ploughed to plant wheat.
• $14 million Annual value of California’s barley crop;
Ethiopian wild barley genes provide virus protection.
• $256 million Kenya’s annual tourism revenue. Black
rhinos, a major wildlife attraction, have been poached
nearly to extinction.
Source: members.aol.com/ MVNick/snature.htm
OCEANS AND COASTS
BENEFITS
• Major source of food protein
• Protection against coastal flooding
and erosion
• Tourist and recreational revenue
IUCN Photo Library © Jim Thorsell
OCEANS AND COASTS
Indicative costs if lost
• $51 million Value of Canada’s annual Atlantic cod catch,
down from $148 million in 1989. Catch fell from 426,000
to 47,000 tons due to overfishing.
• $100,000 Yearly cost to some Bali hotels to combat
beach erosion caused by destruction of coral reefs.
• $33,500 Annual value of a single shark to diving industry
in Maldive Islands; value to a fisherman: $32.
IUCN Photo Library © Jim Thorsel
Biodiversity
includes wild
relatives of
domestic plants
and animals
Biodiversity can help ecosystems
adapt to climate change
The main threats to biodiversity
Rain forest burning
Where is the risk of extinction greatest?
Areas of threatened species richness
Threatened Mammals
Threatened Turtles
Threatened Birds
Threatened Amphibians
So what can be done to conserve biodiversity?
Protected areas provide one important answer.
20,000,000
100,000
Cumulative area sites of known date
18,000,000
Cumulative no. of sites of known date
16,000,000
Note: 38,427 PAs covering approximately 4 million km² have no date and are not
included in the cumulative graph
12,000,000
10,000,000
8,000,000
40,000
6,000,000
4,000,000
20,000
2,000,000
Year
2003
1998
1993
1988
1983
1978
1973
1968
1963
1958
1953
1948
1943
1938
1933
1928
1923
1918
1913
1908
1903
1898
1893
1888
1883
0
1878
0
Area in Km 2
14,000,000
60,000
1873
Number of Sites
80,000
The World Database on Protected Areas
Protected Areas in
IUCN Categories I through VI
Key Problems: Addressing the eternal
conflict between people and nature
Key Problems:
Land use change
Key Problems: The increasing
homogenization of biodiversity: how do
we keep invasive alien species out of
wilderness areas?
Many people are working to find
common ground
between farmers and biodiversity
So what options do we have for
linking biodiversity to agriculture?
1. Maintain non-domestic habitats
within production landscapes
2. Use
economic
incentives to
encourage
farmers to
conserve wild
biodiversity
3. Compensate farmers for
economic damage from wild
species
4. Recognize the value of traditional
farming systems to conserve
domestic and wild biodiversity
5. Remove trade
barriers to
farmers in
developing
countries
6. Apply modern technology to
mainstreaming biodiversity in
agroecosystems
7. Recognize rights of farmers for
genetic resources
8. Recognize indigenous land
rights for biodiversity
conservation
9. Use market
instruments
to support agrobiodiversity
10. Adopt a landscape approach
when mainstreaming biodiversity
Conservation of biodiversity is an expression
of human culture.
Biodiversity needs active management if it is to
provide us with the goods and services we
desire.
This management needs to include some areas
where natural ecosystems are enabled to
continue their evolution.
The biological impacts of climate change will
require new approaches to conserving
biodiversity.