Causes
Fundamental Cause
The root causes of biodiversity loss are population growth and
increasing natural resource consumption. The world's population has
more than tripled in the 20th Century and projections show that
continued growth is expected over the next 50 years. At the present
pace, the Earth's renewable resources are rapidly being depleted.
According to the Ecological Footprint and many other studies, human
consumption of renewable resources has surpassed the Earth's ability to
regenerate them. The expected doubling of the world's population over
the next 50 years will exacerbate these pressures.
The pressure on the environment from growing populations is
exacerbated by the patterns and levels of Humanity's renewable resource
consumption. The combination of a growing population coupled with
unsustainable resource use patterns is the dire problem facing
humanity. The average resident of an industrialized nation uses 15
times as much paper, 10 times as much steel, and 12 times as much fuel
as a person in a developing country (Alan Durning, State of the World 1991, World Watch Institute). Population growth and increasing resource consumption affect biodiversity in two ways:
- They create pressure to convert wildlife habitat into agricultural and urban land; and
- They produce wastes that pollute habitat and poison wildlife.
However, these trends can be off-set by stabilizing population
growth, using the Earth's natural resources more efficiently, and
recycling and controlling pollution.
Understanding Species and Ecosystems
Knowledge about the world's life forms is well behind other fields
of scientific inquiry. Although a great deal is known about individual
species of birds, fishes, mammals, and plant, fewer than 1.4 million of
the world's 5-30 million species have been named, let alone studied.
Information is also limited on the condition and value of biological
resources, as well as uses and management techniques employed by
traditional cultures over centuries. Traditional knowledge, which has
sustained many indigenous peoples for centuries, is rapidly
disappearing. Compounding the problem is the lack of trained
scientists in many developing countries where biodiversity loss is most
prominent.
National Policies
Government policies designed to encourage some sectors, such as
agriculture and forestry, also encourages the destruction of
biodiversity. This is especially true if these policies do not
incorporate sustainable development components as part of the
development requirement. Lack of coordination between government
agencies with overlapping responsibilities may also result in loss of
biodiversity. For example, an environmental agency mandated to halt or
minimize deforestation will be in conflict with another agency that is
trying to boost economic growth in the agricultural sector. Agencies
such as the ones highlighted in the example need to communicate to
ensure that governmental programs coordinate to protect the environment
while facilitating economic growth. This is especially true in
developing countries where human, technical, and financial capacity is
limited.
Effects of Globalization
The world economies reliance on trade has greatly influenced nations
to build their economic sectors base on comparative advantage and
specialization. For example, in many developing countries, which rely
heavily on agricultural commodities for export earnings, have turned to
large-scale plantations focusing on a small range of crops that are in
demand on the world market. However, as the variety of crop species
declines, so too does the complex system of supporting species that
would have evolved with traditional agricultural systems. The growth
of such farming systems has often been at the expense of species-rich
forests, wetlands, and diverse small-scale agricultural lands.
Resource Distribution
People who depend on the natural resources provided by their
surroundings have a strong interest in maintaining the productivity of
those resources. However, more often than not, local communities see
little benefit of those resources but are left with paying the cost for
their unsustainable use. The inequities in who manages resources
versus who receives their benefits can be found between rich and poor,
men and women, and among societal groups.
Globally, there are inequities between rich and poor countries. The
rich countries have the technology and financial capability to develop
and exploit natural resources in the poorer countries where the
resources typically exist. For example, a successful drug for
childhood leukemia has been developed from the rosy periwinkle of
Madagascar, but none of the $100 million annual estimated revenue has
flowed back to its country of origin (M.D. Jenkins, ed., Madagascar: An Environmental Profile, World Conservation Monitoring Center).
The Value of Biodiversity
The value of goods and services derived from biodiversity are
typically not taken into consideration or undervalued, thereby
promoting (directly or indirectly) their depletion. The value of
biodiversity are almost totally ignored in national economic accounts
because it is so difficult to value. However, when markets undervalue
biodiversity, policies may encourage unsustainable or destructive
activities. (See How Much Are Nature's Services Worth? and Ecosystems Services: Free, But Valuable.)
Root Causes
The causes of biodiversity loss described above do not operate in
isolation, but rather tend to act with and exacerbate one another. In
order to preserve and manage biodiversity:
- we must gain greater understanding our natural environment;
- traditional knowledge must be preserved;
- governmental policies should facilitate responsible and sustainable resource use;
- economic incentives should not contradict environmental priorities; and
- local communities must be involved in, and see the benefits of, the use of their natural resources.
In order to be effective in addressing the sustainable management of
resources, biodiversity issues must be incorporated throughout national
planning processes. A wholistic approach to sustainable use of natural
resources must be taken to ensure that, from inception to
completion, biodiversity issues are incorporated into all facets of
development.
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