Threats to Biodiversity

Why should we value biodiversity?

• It has intrinsic value (value in and of itself, it provides us with Oxygen, Food, Clean Water, Medicine, Aesthetics, Joy, Mental Health, Cultural identity and connection)

• Utilitarian value (source of goods and services, such as sustainable timber and rubber or eco-tourism)

We rely heavily on the resources nature provides us (fossil fuels, rubber, water, minerals, timber, food, medicine) if biodiversity is poor, nature is then destroyed, and we would have no resources to support ourselves.

What are some threats to biodiversity?

• Habitat destruction

• Pollution

• Species Introduction

• Global Climate Change

• Exploitation

What has happened recently that should make us care more about biodiversity than ever?

Importantly, the rate of extinction is far above pre-human levels

Habitat loss and Climate change pose the biggest current threats to biodiversity

Deforestation and forest degradation has increased since the Rio Earth Summit (1992)

“The conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources”

“Biodiversity is a common concern of humankind and an integral part of the development process”

How is biodiversity medically valuable?

• The Rosy Periwinkle: a flower with therapeutic properties, particularly in cancer treatment and diabetes management.

  Efforts are made to conserve this flower, with breeding programs.

• Glenn King discovered the “neuroprotective” attributes of Hi1a (a poisonous spider venom) in rats with a stroke. If given eight hours after a stroke, Hi1a could prevent a huge amount of the damage.

  And if administered within four hours, 90% of the damage could be prevented, even at extremely tiny doses. Side effects with these toxins would be minimal to non-existent.

Endangered vs Threatened

Threatened: population low but extinction less imminent

Endangered: numbers so low that extinction

imminent

What threatens biodiversity? Extinction events

Background extinction (95% of all extinctions)

• The ongoing extinction of individual species due to environmental or ecological factors such as climate change, disease, loss of habitat, or competitive disadvantage in relation to other species.

Mass extinction

• a period of significant, widespread, and rapid biodiversity loss, during which a large percentage of Earth's species vanish in a short geological timeframe

What is habitat fragmentation? Why is it bad?

a process during which a large expanse of habitat is transformed into a number of patches of a smaller total area, isolated from each other. This process primarily occurs due to human activities like urban development, agriculture, and infrastructure projects

It’s bad because:

• Vegetation regulates resources within an ecosystem

Rates of deforestation Examples

South America is an example of devastating deforestation.

An estimated 4.89 million acres of forest were cleared in 2022, a 21% increase from 2021.

Due to isolation of forest areas, clearing boundaries are much more affected by deforestation.

Through 2018-19, cleared forests and woodlands in QLD saw truly staggering land clearing, mostly by farmers and cattle graziers, with around 680,000 hectares of habitat destroyed; even though the state Labor government tightened land clearing rules in 2015, the new rules were riddled with loopholes.

If Queensland was a country, it would have been the ninth highest forest destroying nation globally in 2019 – just above China.

What are the causes of deforestation?

• Swidden agriculture (slash-and-burn)

  • 60% of deforestation

  • Rapid decline in soil productivity (nutrient storage)

  • Can be sustainable -- (15 - 20 year rotation)

• Inequitable land ownership (e.g., Brazil where only 5% of

  farmers own land)

• Poor government oversight and regulation/Lack of “policing” or punitive penalties

• Commercial logging

  • 21% of deforestation

  • creaming of the most valuable hardwoods

  • 1-2 trees per hectare taken (widespread damage)

  • clearcut versus selective

• Cattle ranching

  • 12% of deforestation

  • frequently aided by government subsidies

  • 2 trees destroyed for each hamburger made from “tropical forest beef”

What pushes people/farmers to deforestation?

Many underlying social problems giving impetus to deforestation:

• over-consumption in industrialized countries

• foreign debt

• poverty

• unequal ownership of land

• overpopulation

What can be done?

1. Need to preserve intact sections of tropical forest

   • Create and maintain habitat corridors to connect isolated areas, restore degraded habitats by reintroducing native species and removing invasive ones. (conservation strategies)

   • The government must introduce new policies and measures to protect wildlife and habitats

     • Taking into account the economic and environmental constraints of the country (with a detailed local knowledge)

   • Organisations and citizens must take part in revealing and discovering illegal deforestation projects, e.g. via satellite imagery/protest

   • Indigenous communities must be given the right to protect their heritage land, and the habitats and resources within it.

2. Address the economic needs of the “poorer” nations in which forests reside

   • We must figure out a solution to protecting nature while simultaneously allowing commercial, economic developments to flourish.

   • Biodiversity must be valued

   • Environmental health must be monitored and policing on environmental infringements should carry severe penalties befitting the crime.

3. Use of the “Precautionary Principle” where the risk of harm is unknown.

"In order to protect the environment, the precautionary approach shall be widely applied by States according to their capabilities. Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation.” (Principle 15, Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, 1992)

The value of listening to indigenous voices in conservation efforts

4. Welcome, Listen and Respect cultural knowledge in caring for Country.

• Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islanders should be heard and given an equal place at the table. Indigenous knowledge has sustained land, culture and life for generations.

• Indigenous knowledge offers a deep, placed-based way of caring for Country – the way it was always meant to be.

• Can help to better understand seasonal changes, use cool fire strategies, manage healthy rivers and land resources

Now more than ever, we are seeing how critical Indigenous knowledge is in responding to growing environmental challenges.