- 11/02/2013
- Posted by: essay
- Category: Free essays
In 1992, the UN Convention on the protection of biological diversity was signed in order to achieve significant decrease of extinction rates of wild animals by 2010. However, the Zoological Society argues that the Government of the States Parties has not taken sufficient steps to achieve this goal; and it is not possible to even come close to it within the specified period.
At the same time, according to experts, the extinction of wild animals is a process in two ways, as a new set of species takes the place of extinct ones. The diversity of species is constantly changing, but, for example, ichtyomass remains the same. According to scientists, nature is declining liquidity species – valuable species of fish, hoofed animals or animals with valuable fur, the place of which is now taken by animals, making no commercial interest. For example, rats or fish like verkhovka or galena only increase their population annually (“Why protect biodiversity and save endangered species?”).
The IUCN specialist Jane Smart states that it is time for the governments to become more serious about saving species, and find them a place on their agenda, because our time is beginning to come to an end. According to Smart, the planet is facing a serious threat of the extinction of many species: even before the summit on climate in Copenhagen, the organization warned that government inaction is dangerous for some very well-known species.
According to the UN Environmental Programme, currently species are disappearing at a rate of about a thousand times exceeding the natural rate of the development of the living world. Extinction threatens about one-third of the 1.8 million plant and animal species known today. At the same time, some scientists suggest that up to 6-12 million species of plants and animals have not been identified yet (“Protecting Threatened and Endangered Species”).
The authors of a third UN report titled “Global overview of species” have warned that some ecosystems will soon reach a critical point and begin to provide less and less benefit to a man. At the UN Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002, the tasks were outlined to reduce the rate of destruction of species by 2010 (Povilitis 372-76). In particular, it was supposed to reduce the rate of the natural habitats decrease, to control the spread of invasive species, as well as to intensify the fight against illegal trade, which could jeopardize the destruction of rare species. But so far, not a single state has reported on the achievement of these goals.buy term paper
Simultaneously, Bill Jackson, Deputy Director General of the World Conservation Union, engaged in drawing up the “Red Data Book” states that 21% of all known mammals, 30% of all known amphibians, 12% of all known birds, and 27% of reef-building corals are under the threat of extinction (Povilitis 372-76). If such a reduced price threatened the shares, this would be followed by the immediate reaction and general panic.
On the other hand, some specialists argue that human activities aimed at the protection of endangered species are in conflict with the normal course of evolution by natural selection. Thus, the protection of endangered species could be seen as another arrogant attempt of the mankind to control human nature through intervention. Factually, this factor of intervention in natural processes initially created the problem. According to this position, 90% of species that had ever inhabited the planet has already disappeared. Moreover, their extinction is not always caused by man; typically, that’s a totally natural process (Larrère 9-34).
However, the UNO believes that the relationship of species diversity and the economy is stronger than many people think it is. Achim Steiner, executive director of the UN Environment Programme, says that many countries are turning a blind eye to the huge cost of animals, plants and other life forms and their role in maintaining healthy and functioning ecosystems (Povilitis 372-76). Mankind has created the illusion that we can somehow do without the variety of species, and that in the modern world, it plays some secondary role. But the truth is that natural diversity is necessary for the mankind, especially in the conditions the planet population should grow from six billion to nine billion by 2050.
Expert believe that the worse is the condition of ecosystems, the higher is the likelihood that they will change and stop bringing the same benefit to a man as they used to before. For example, a pond with the clean water, polluted by excessive amount of agricultural fertilizers, gets overgrown with algae. As a result of dying fish, the water becomes undrinkable.
Thus, it could b concluded that the natural diversity of the planet faces the catastrophe. A total of 45 000 species of animals and plants recorded in the various “Red Data Books”, 17,000 are threatened with extinction, and 869 of them have completely disappeared from the face of the earth. However, WWF stresses that only 2,7 percent all of the 1.8 million existing species of animals are studied, and there is enough scientific data to study the threat to their existence. Scientists come out from the fact that the data about the disappearance of animals is significantly underestimated.
In turn, this could impede the achievement of the main goal proclaimed in the UN convention: to stop the extinction of animals until 2010. At the same time, national economies of different countries are directly dependent on biodiversity. Contemporary mankind simply cannot afford the extinction of species, while biological diversity of species plays the fundamental role in tourism, food processing and pharmaceutical industries and generally makes the basis of economic development.
Works Cited
Larrère, Raphaël, and Catherine Larrère. “Should nature be respected?” Social Science Information 46 (2007): 9-34. Print.
Mauro, Anthony P. “Hunting Plays a Vital Role in Balancing the Ecosystem”. MuleyMadness.com. 2006.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.