Welcome to Biodiversity Guide
Biodiversity Day Article
. For a permanent link to this article, or to bookmark it for further reading, click here.
Is Conservation Of Biodiversity The 800-Pound Elephant In Our Living Room?
from:While biodiversity is a hot topic, conservation of biodiversity might easily be considered the 800 pound elephant in the room.
Defining biodiversity is complicated enough: is it just the animal and plant life of a region, or the actual planet supporting them? Does it include or exclude human beings? Can biodiversity and development coexist?
North America is one of the most biologically diverse regions of the world, with ecospheres that vary from deserts to seashores and everything in between. However, North American biological diversity is in great danger. While most of the threats are relegated to one country or another, several of them affect two of the three countries, and their effects and their consequences will potentially affect the entire continent.
The real problem we face, however, is the conservation of biodiversity. While everyone agrees that conserving natural resources is a good idea, there is no consensus on how to go about it. Every group, from governmental agencies to agribusinesses to concerned individuals has their own idea of what conservation of biodiversity means, and what measures should be taken to achieve it. Further, each group has its own agenda to pursue, and may regard some factors of conservation of biodiversity as threats to those agendas.
Part of the problem is that conservation of biodiversity is quite costly. We are just beginning to develop the technologies necessary to preserve biodiversity hotspots, but trying to restore an area to its original state is not only costly, it is often impossible. Further, no one solution fits all hotspots. What is needed in, for example, the Aral Sea region is not necessarily what will work in the Everglades. In the first area, what is needed is reworking the irrigation systems to restore proper salinity of the remaining water, and prevent further seepage due to the composition of the irrigation channels. In the second area, the restoration of the Everglades would require, among other things, reclamation and reflooding of land currently owned privately or by agribusinesses requiring costly and time-consuming negotiations with each of the landowners in question, and, in the case of the agribusinesses, other areas would have to be found to grow their products, lest food shortages arise as a result of the land reclamation.
In other cases, reclamation of the land might include destroying current housing developments or factories, with the collateral losses of jobs in an what might be an economically depressed area.
With so many groups and interests, and the high costs, it is clear that the conservation of biodiversity is a complicated matter. Yet, if it is not resolved during our lifetimes, the problems we leave our descendants will be even more complicated and harder to resolve.
Biodiversity Day News
Seminars, discussions mark Biodiversity Day
Awareness programmes and discussions on marine biodiversity marked the International Biodiversity Day celebrations in the city.Inaugurating the programme jointly organised by the Kerala Sas...
Read more...Marine Biodiversity
ILOILO CITY, Iloilo (PIA) - Marine Biodiversity Day in Western Visayas today will be highlighted by the importance of protecting, conserving, and managing the region's marine life. Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Region 6 (DENR-6) executive director Julian Amador said Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Officers (PENRO) here have undergone four-day training on ...
Read more...UN Chief: Ocean's Biodiversity Must Be Protected
Speaking on the International World Biodiversity Day , UN chief Ban Ki-Moon on Tuesday warned that over-consumption and rampant pollution was threatening the world's ocean and marine biodiverity. " Despite its importance, marine biodiversity has not fared well at human hands," he said in a prepared statement. read more
Read more...Kids get on marine biodiversity camp
Kids get on marine biodiversity camp BACOLOD City — Twenty-three kid campers spent their summer break in a four-day Kids Marine Biodiversity Camp at the Sagay Marine Reserve in Sagay City, Negros Occidental.
Read more...Guv awards prizes to students on International Biodiversity Day
Dehradun, May 22 : Uttarakhand Governor Aziz Qureshi today stressed the importance of the relationship between human life and biodiversity, saying that all children should resolve to deal with challenges posed by pollution to the environment.
Read more...