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Biodiversity Loss is Worse than Little Nuclear War
***"the loss of the worlds genetic diversity would be worse than energy depletion, economic collapse, limited nuclear war or conquest by a totalitarian government," says Harvard biologist Edward O. Wilson. He explains that he loss of genetic and species diversity by the destruction of natural habitats is one process that will take millions of years to correct.***
BIODIVERSITY — the ecosystems. species and genes that together make life, on earth possible and even pleasant — is collapsing at nothing less than mind-boggling rates.
"Difficult as It Is to accept, mass extinction has already begun, and the world is irrevocably committed to many further losses." says Dr John C Ryan, a research associate of the Washington-based World-wateji Institute.
The New York Times reports that one of the world's "five I® ten million species becomes extinct each day. And it has been estimated that about one million species or roughly one-third of all the different kinds of organisms existing in the tropics are likely to become extinct by the end*of the century.
'The loss of the world's genetic diversity would be worse than energy depletion, economic collapse, limited nuclear war or conquest by a totalitarian government," says Harvard biologist Edward O. Wilson, He explains that he loss of genetic and species diversity by the destruction of natural habitats is one process that will take millions of years to correct.
The disappearance of plant and animal species should be humanity's concern because they provide genetic materials for improved varieties or breeds, explains the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Although biological resources are renewable, the current rate at which they are being exploited gives them no time to renew themselves.
Among the factors cited for the degradation of the world's biological resources were the clearing of land for agriculture, overgrazing of grasslands, cullings and burning of forests, unsustainable logging and fuelwood collection. Indiscriminate use of fertilizers and pesticides. overwatrring of crops, over exploitation of fisheries draining and filling of wet lands, poor water manage menu urbanization and pollution of air and water.
While loss of biodiversity is frequently presented as an environmental problem. Its underlying causes are actually social, economic and political.
"The excessive and unsustainable consumption of resources by a small but rich minority of the world s population. combined with, the destructive Impacts of the world's poor and hungry in a desperate bid for survival, have destroyed or overexploited habitats worldwide," FAO says.
Since 1983. FAO has developed a global system on plant genetic resources to dhsure safe conservation, sustainable use and unrestricted availability of plant germplasm.
To reverse the slide toward genetic disaster of fish and other aquatic resources, action is being taken on a number of fronts. The World Conference on Aquaculture, for instance, drew attention to the adverse effects on indigenous stocks of the indiscriminate transfer of fish and shellfish. It called for increased research in fish genetics to facilitate selective breeding programmes.
The International Centre for Living Aquatic Resources Management (ICLARM) in the Philippines is likewise tapping traditional knowledge to conserve and utilize fish genetic resources. Together with FAO. it is'assembling a comprehensive database on all of the 24.000 species of cartilaginous and bony fishes in the world.
In 1992. FAO launched a comprehensive programme for the global conservation of animal genetic resources, ft includes a global inventory of animal genetic resources, including a database to characterize and enumerate all breeds of livestock used in agriculture: action to identify breeds at risk of extinction as well as methods of protecting them: promoting of programme in developing nations to conserve endangered breeds Ir^their na five habitats, and improvement of livestock breeding capacl ties in the developing world.
Asian countries are among those racing against time to save their threatened and en dangered spec les
In the Philippines, the Philippine Eagle Conservation Programme Foundation, Inc. (PECPFI) came into existence lo save the indigenous eagle from extinction.
In Viet Nam. Prime Minister VoVan Kiet banned fhe killing and exploitation of rare wild afilmals.
In his order, the. Vietnamese leader prohibited the sale by shops and hotels of local rare birds and stuffed animals aS trophies and the sale of rare animals for pets, medicinal purposes or food.
The number of snakes, tortoises. crabs, frogs and other species caught for export as food was restricted "to preserve the'ecological balance" and prevent stocks from becoming exhausted, the order said.
The Vietnamese government has also increased its efforts to protect the animals by controlling hunting activities, it has recently turned Cat Ba into a national park.
China has launched a three-year drive to protect wildlife and the environment. Offlciajs plan to crack down on restaurants serving rare, endangered species.
Last September, the official China Daily reported that teams of inspectors started their rounds in the southern parts, where exotic dishes like ant eater and owl are on the menu The raiding team also target companies that pollute the environment.
Sri Lanka is using the same approach. There are 60 or more protected areas exclusively for conservation. About 25 of these are less than ten square kilometres wide and only two have a contiguous forest of 1.000 square kilometres or more.
The Philippines has the same problem Fortunately, the Japanese government offered a US$19,000 grant aid to PECPFI to construct a two unit. 20-by-60-inch Isolation facility with a perimeter cage for housing Pagkakalsa
Wildlife experts in china believe that conservation will succeed only if it takes place in tandem with economic growth, not at the expense of growth.'
Making development com patible with conservation is not easy, especially in a country eager lor economic growth, observes one Chinese official. But for our endan gered species, it is the only hope Depthnews Asia