Ecology & The Environment:
Can Biodiversity Be Saved?
By Professor G. Agoramoorthy
Protected Areas
Management and Eco-Tourism, Tajen Institute of Technology, Taiwan
Director,
Research and Conservation Department, Wildlife Reserves Singapore
How
much biodiversity is the world in danger of losing? Even for scientists, this
question is difficult to answer because some 4 to 40 million species are
unknown and unmonitored, and other elements of biodiversity such as genes,
populations, communities and habitats are equally hard to assess. There is no
doubt that our planet’s forests are under attack, and indeed about 200 million
ha were lost between 1980 and 1995 alone --an area larger than Mexico. In this
murky situation, we have no choice except to protect forests that are known to harbour
a maximum diversity of species.
Biologists
have identified 25 biodiversity hotspots that cover about 2 per cent of our
Earth’s land surface. The catch phrase ‘‘biodiversity hotspots’’ was actually
coined by the British ecologist Norman Myers more than a decade ago. Endemism
in vascular plants is the main criterion for identifying hotspots, because each
hotspot harbours about 2,500 species of endemic vascular plants or 1 per cent
of the total known diversity.
The
Caribbean, Philippines and Madagascar are
considered the highest priority hotspots. Madagascar
and the Caribbean alone are among the top five hotspots in terms of endemic
species of flora and fauna, exceeding 2 per cent of global diversity, and the Philippines is
in the next four in this privileged list. However, these areas have lost
alarming amounts of natural forests in recent years as a result of habitat
destruction. In 2000 a study published by a global alliance of conservation
groups called BirdLife International found that as much as 12 per cent of the
world's 9,800 bird species are threatened with extinction within the next
century and that in the near future an additional 8 per cent may become
threatened. It does not mean that other areas that are not included in the
hotspots should be ignored, and, indeed, every country in the world must
attempt to protect its own biodiversity.
The
majority of the biodiversity hotspots are located in countries where poverty is
rampant, and this frustrates attempts to preserve threatened habitats. Thus,
the threat to biodiversity loss is real. The global human population reached
6.1 billion in 2000, an increase of 77 million over 1999. The mean human
density in biological hotspots is 73 people/km2, which is
71 per cent greater than the global mean density. Asia
and the Pacific have 23 per cent of the world's land areas but 58 per cent of
its people. The Western Ghats and Sri Lanka
Hotspots are the most densely populated (341 people/km2). The
combination of rapidly expanding populations existing in abject poverty in
biodiversity hotspots may lead to social disorder, further frustrating attempts
to preserve biodiversity.
The Global
Environmental Facility that emerged from the 1992 Earth Summit organized by the
United Nations in Rio de Janeiro,
has co-financed USD5 billion over the last six years, of which 70 per cent has
gone to biodiversity conservation projects worldwide in addition to the
involvement of several multilateral development banks in biodiversity-related
investments. Although this might have made life comfortable for
conservationists, did it eliminate poverty among the marginalized people who
live in hotspots? The forest where I watched monkeys while I was a student in India has
already disappeared, replaced with a new bustling town. People still remain
poor near the wildlife sanctuaries and national parks. When people are socially
healthy, when they have hope for their future, only then will the future of
biodiversity be secured in hotspots.
We are
living in a marketing world today. Passion is not enough to safeguard
biodiversity, and we must be practical. We must give more attention to
strengthening demand for financing and to promote win-win investments, for
example, in the energy and water sectors where biodiversity conservation and
economic benefits can go hand in hand. It is also necessary to increase the
Western support to environmental investments in South East Asian countries.
Furthermore, it is important to establish or strengthen the role of the
national environmental and biodiversity conservation funds. These funds could
get their resources through taxes/fines from national/international and this
practice today accounting for 20 per cent of environmental expenditures in
several Central and Eastern European countries. Moreover, biodiversity
conservation and nature tourism have decades old history in Southeast
Asia. Ecotourism is a multi-billion dollar business industry, and
it capitalizes on a growing regional market sector. Ecotourism is also a tool
for the future as it nurtures the already high respect that young people have
for the local and regional natural scenery, wild areas and wildlife.
You will be
surprised to know that the estimated economic and environmental benefits from
biodiversity are in fact substantial. In the USA alone, their services
contribute an estimated USD319 billion per year! Relative to the USD6 trillion
per year of US gross domestic product (GDP) the services amount to 5 per cent
of GDP. For the world the benefits are estimated to be USD2928 billion per
year, or approximately 11 per cent of the total world economy of USD26 trillion
per year. These estimated benefits are clearly conservative since a similar
study estimates world economic benefits of biodiversity to be USD33,000 billion
per year!
The current rate of species extinction is currently approximately from 1,000 to
10,000 times higher than natural extinction rates and is reducing biodiversity.
Growing human populations and their associated increase in activities are
destroying habitats that are required for the survival of many unique plant and
animal species. Some threats to agriculture, forestry and natural ecosystems
are related to the losses of pollinators, natural enemies of pests and fishes.
Pollution of ecosystems and the depletion of basic resources have reached
dangerous levels. If future generations are to live in a safe, productive and
healthy environment, sound policies and effective conservation programmes must
be implemented to protect biodiversity before it is too late for meaningful
action.
Is it worth spending money to protect biodiversity in a city-state like Singapore? When Singapore was founded in 1819 it
had a population of 150 people and the main island (544 km2 ) was
almost entirely covered by rainforest. Today, more than half the island is
urbanized to accommodate over three million inhabitants, and less than 100 ha
rainforest and 500 ha mangrove forest survive in an endangered state.
The
development has certainly made the city-state an economic giant in the Asia
Pacific region. However, Singapore
hasn't ignored the commitment for conservation. It realizes the responsibility
to care for its own natural environment and indeed set aside protected reserves
to preserve nature.
Singapore also cares for wildlife
conservation in the region. An example is the Wildlife Reserves Singapore that
manages world-class wildlife attractions such as the Jurong Bird Park,
Singapore Zoo and the Night Safari that serve as repository for saving highly
endangered species of wildlife native to the region. Dr Kwa Soon Bee, the
Chairman of the Wildlife Reserves Singapore, is the visionary and intellect
behind the success of these three unique wildlife parks. It was he who
initiated the new research and conservation department to promote wildlife
research and conservation linking ex-situ and in-situ to safeguard
endangered species of regional fauna. Besides, he encourages sponsoring
biodiversity preservation projects locally and regionally using the wildlife
research and conservation fund to specifically support native students and
biologists.
It is hard
to see people like Dr Kwa in Southeast Asia
today. He reminds me of the legendary Hugh Cleghorn, India’s first Inspector General of
Forest, who was the first to alert the world and the scientific community in
1851 on the effects of deforestation leading to global climate change. Though
Hugh Cleghorn and Dr Kwa share the same profession as medical doctors, with
their prodigious knowledge they have done more to bring wildlife, biodiversity
and environmental conservation awareness to people than most modern-day
biologists.
Finally, can we fit on this planet with a biosphere?
Nobel Laureates Tinbergen and Von Wieiszacker admit that wealth and
over-consumption cause environmental degradation. If rich people can learn how
to live simply, the poor people can simply live. People tend to view earth's
environment as something esoteric, but must realize that human lives depend on
our biodiversity. The great majority of the public from developed nations, such
as the USA, Germany and Japan, do not comprehend their
dependence on healthy, functioning ecosystems. However, there has been growing
a number of countries that are now party to the 1992 Convention on Biological
Diversity, and it is encouraging to learn that steps are being taken to
implement various articles of the treaty. Real conservation consciousness can
come about only through informed, educated and healthy citizens who are able to
place biological conservation into social, political and economic contexts at
local and international levels. Balancing economic development and
environmental conservation are daunting tasks for future world leaders.
Biodiversity conservation should be the bottom-line for all countries, and it
will depend on measures to use its components sustainably and to manage natural
resources in ways that minimize adverse impacts on biodiversity.
Professor
G. Agoramoorthy teaches biodiversity conservation, protected areas
management and eco-tourism at the Tajen Institute of Technology in Taiwan. He also
directs the Research and Conservation Department at the Wildlife Reserves Singapore that manages the world-class wildlife
institutions such as the Singapore
Zoo, Night Safari and Jurong BirdPark. He has conducted biodiversity field
research to estimate population and conservation status of numerous species
ranging from soil micro fungi to mega bats and from invertebrates to great
apes. He has also carried out long-term demographic and social behavior field
studies on primate species such as the Hanuman langurs in India, red howlers in
Venezuela, black-and-gold howlers in Argentina, and Formosan macaques in
Taiwan. He is an Honorary Advisor to the Sabah Wildlife Department, Malaysia where he currently carries out ex-situ
and in-situ conservation research projects on endangered species of Borneo.