Vanishing Biodiversity IS SPECIES LOSS APPROACHING a “TIPPING POINT”?
NOV. 6, 2012 VOLUME 6, NUMBER 21 PAGES 497-520 WWW.GLOBALRESEARCHER.COM Vanishing Biodiversity IS SPECIES LOSS APPROACHING A “TIPPING POINT”?
arth’s biodiversity — the profusion of plants and animals that work together to support life — contin -
ues to shrink. Species are going extinct at a rate most scientists find alarming — possibly as many as
150 a day — while the populations of many surviving species are declining rapidly. Endangered species E range from plants and large animals such as tigers and rhinoceroses to smaller creatures such as in - sects and honeybees. All play key roles in sustaining healthy ecosystems, which provide a variety of costly environ -
mental services for free, such as filtering water and scrubbing carbon from the air. Some researchers believe the Earth
could be approaching a so-called tipping point, in which biodiversity loss causes global ecosystems to change rapidly
and dramatically, but other scientists doubt the theory. Meanwhile, there is widespread concern about humanity’s ability
to sustain itself in a world of diminishing
biodiversity if the global population reach -
es 9.5 billion by 2050, as is projected.
While many more areas are being pro -
tected today than in the past — includ -
ing the bio-rich Amazon rainforest — con -
servation efforts are not keeping up with
the loss of biodiversity.
A keeper at the Singapore Zoo examines a majestic rare African white rhino on July 17, 2012. The huge creatures are on the verge of being threatened with extinction due to poaching. Their horns are used for medicinal purposes in Asia and for ornamental dagger handles in the Middle East.
PUBLISHED BY CQ PRESS, AN IMPRINT OF SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC. WWW.CQPRESS.COM VANISHING BIODIVERSITY
THE ISSUES Tropical Species Are 501 Declining • Is Earth at a global Populations of some wild Nov. 6, 2012 499 biodiversity-loss tipping species have declined more Volume 6, Number 21 point? than 60 percent. MANAGING EDITOR: Kathy Koch • Does monoculture agri - [email protected] culture threaten biodiversity? 502 Inside the ‘Doomsday Vault,’ • Does biodiversity loss Hope for Survival CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Thomas J. Billitteri But some conservationists [email protected]; Thomas J. Colin threaten human civilization? ask: Is it enough? [email protected] BACKGROUND CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Brian Beary, 504 One-Third of Species Are Roland Flamini, Sarah Glazer, Reed Karaim, Threatened Rob ert Kiener, Jina Moore, Jennifer Weeks Extinction Epochs Two percent of the species 509 Five great extinction already were extinct in 2009. SENIOR PROJECT EDITOR: Olu B. Davis events have occurred dur - ASSISTANT EDITOR: Darrell Dela Rosa ing Earth’s history. Chronology 507 Key events since 1901. FACT CHECKER: Michelle Harris Humans and Extinction 511 Early activities such as Mystery of the 508 Disappearing Bees hunting, farming and do - New studies point to a mesticating animals began widely used pesticide as the reducing biodiversity. cause of the worldwide decline. An Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc. VICE PRESIDENT AND EDITORIAL DIRECTOR, CURRENT SITUATION At Issue HIGHER EDUCATION GROUP: 513 Is biodiversity loss reaching a Michele Sordi Threats and Progress critical stage? 512 Biodiversity loss continues, DIRECTOR, ONLINE PUBLISHING: even as governments take 520 Voices from Abroad Todd Baldwin measures to mitigate it. Headlines and editorials from around the world. Copyright © 2012 CQ Press, an Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc. SAGE reserves all copyright OUTLOOK and other rights herein, unless pre vi ous ly spec- FOR FURTHER RESEARCH i fied in writing. No part of this publication may Coming Changes be reproduced electronically or otherwise, 515 For More Information without prior written permission. Un au tho rized Declining biodiversity will 517 Organizations to contact. re pro duc tion or trans mis sion of SAGE copy right- trigger huge environmental ed material is a violation of federal law car ry ing changes. Bibliography civil fines of up to $100,000. 518 Selected sources used. CQ Press is a registered trademark of Con - SIDEBARS AND GRAPHICS 519 The Next Step gressional Quarterly Inc. Additional articles. CQ Global Researcher is printed on acid-free paper. Most Threatened Species Pub lished twice monthly, except: (Jan. wk. 5) (May 500 Citing CQ Global Researcher Are in Asia, Western 519 wk. 5) (July wk. 5) (Oct. wk. 5). Published by Hemisphere Sample bibliography formats. SAGE Publications, Inc., 2455 Teller Rd., Thousand Ecuador has the most Oaks, CA 91320. Annual full-service subscriptions threatened species. start at $575. For pricing, call 1-800-834-9020. To purchase a CQ Researcher report in print or elec - tronic format (PDF), visit www.cqpress.com or call 866-427-7737. Single reports start at $15. Bulk pur - chase discounts and electronic-rights licensing are also available. Periodicals postage paid at Thou - sand Oaks, California, and at additional mailing offices. POST MAST ER: Send ad dress chang es to CQ Re search er , 2300 N St., N.W., Suite 800, Wash - ing ton, DC 20037. Cover: AFP/Getty Images/Roslan Rahman
498 CQ Global Researcher Vanishing Biodiversity BY REED KARAIM
raises the possibility the plan - THE ISSUES et is nearing a “state shift,” or tipping point, in which the s scientists study the global ecosystem changes dra - web of life that makes matically. 5 A up Earth’s shrinking Other recent research has biodiversity, they continue to taken a closer look at hu - find unexpected connections. manity’s dependence on Consider the sea otter and healthy ecosystems for every - climate change. thing from the food we eat A small marine mammal to the water we drink and that lives in the frigid north - the clean air we breathe. 6 ern Pacific coastal waters, the “When we look at the big - sea otter has the densest fur ger picture, we discover we in the animal kingdom, with depend on a whole lot of up to a million hairs per species,” says Michel Loreau, square inch. 1 Sea otter fur director of the Centre for Bio - was so prized they were hunt - diversity Theory and Model -
ed to the brink of extinction n ling in Moulis, France. a m
in the early 1900s, when only a Conservationists have Z
2 about 2,000 remained. z made progress in some areas, u
r Thanks to changing fashions i including the Amazon, where n u
and conservation efforts, the M forest clearing has slowed. / s
sea otter population has re - e “There’s a lot more good news g a
covered to number in the m than people think,” says Stu - I
y t
tens of thousands, although t art Pimm, a conservation bi - e G
it’s still far below what it / ologist with Duke University P once was. F in Durham, N.C., and the A Once their fur was no Commuters use a boat bridge in Dhaka, the capital of University of Pretoria in South longer cherished, sea otters Bangladesh, where the Buriganga River is clogged by invasive Africa. “Globally, for example, were seen merely as cute, play - water hyacinths. The dense foliage of the rapidly growing plant we’ve reduced the rate of bird covers the river’s surface, blocking light, killing native species and ful creatures — until recently. destroying the fragile food web. Non-native species extinctions to about a quarter A new study indicates that like the hyacinth are disrupting ecosystems and of what it would have been the sea otter plays a mea - threatening plants and animals around the world. if we hadn’t bothered.” surable role in fighting Yet, overall, the Earth is glob al warming. Researchers still losing species. From at the University of California, Santa — but this indicates that animals might large animals such as tigers and rhi - Cruz, found that the otters helped to have a strong impact on the carbon cycle. noceroses to insects and plant vari - protect Pacific seaweed forests by eat - There might be win-win conservation- eties, populations are declining, and ing kelp-loving sea urchins. 3 Kelp climate change scenarios,” says assistant many species are believed to be going consumes carbon dioxide (CO 2), a professor of environmental studies Chris extinct. Estimates have ranged as high principal contributor to global warm - Wilmers, the study’s lead author. as 150 to 200 species a day, although ing. By eating the sea urchins, the The sea otter study is one of sev - some researchers believe the number otters enable kelp forests to process eral recent reports that are deepening could be significantly lower. 7 Part of up to an additional 9.6 million tons scientific understanding of the impor - the problem: No one knows how many of carbon dioxide a year, the re - tance of biodiversity and how humans species exist on Earth; estimates range searchers found. 4 affect it. For years, conservation biol - from 2 million to 100 million. 8 “From the perspective of trying to ogists and other scientists have re - Scientists, however, can use the mitigate climate change, all the focus ported that the Earth is losing plant fossil record to compare the normal has been on [CO 2-consuming] plants and animal species at an alarming rate. “background” rate of extinctions with — managing forests, that sort of thing One new study, published in Nature , the rate of recorded extinctions in
www.globalresearcher.com Nov. 6, 2012 499 VANISHING BIODIVERSITY
Most Threatened Species Are in Asia, Western Hemisphere More than 900 species have gone extinct worldwide in the last 500 years, and more than 10,000 are in danger of extinction, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Ecuador, which is rapidly losing its biodiversity-rich rainforests to oil exploration, logging and road building, has the world’s largest number of species threatened by extinction. Indonesia, India and Mexico have the most endangered mammals.
Countries with the Most Threatened Species
Spain United States China India Vietnam Mexico Philippines Sri Malaysia Colombia Cameroon Lanka Thailand Papua Ecuador Brazil Tanzania New Indonesia Guinea Peru Australia Madagascar
Source: “Threatened species in each country,” “Red List,” International Union for the Conservation of Nature, 2012, www.iucnredlist.org/documents/summarystatistics/2012_2_RL_Stats_Table_5.pdf . Map by Lewis Agrell
more recent times. “We know the cur - and animals. However, the level of bio - • Overuse, such as commercial rent extinction rates in the last four diversity loss most experts see is alarm - fishing that has depleted bluefin tuna centuries are about 100 to 1,000 times ing enough that many believe the plan - and other key marine species; higher than the background rates,” et is experiencing the “sixth great • Poisoning through pollution or says Loreau. Some projections, he says, extinction” in Earth’s history. But unlike agri-chemical runoff; show the Earth soon reaching ex - previous mass extinctions, which were • Invasive species, often carried by tinction levels that are “10,000 times caused by natural disasters, this one humans into areas where they over - the background rates.” largely is the work of humans, they say. whelm native populations; A few analysts are skeptical of such Researchers say there are five prin - • Human-caused climate change . 9 claims and even doubt a biodiversity cipal causes of biodiversity loss: All the causes are tied to the rapid crisis exists. Others believe the key to • Shrinking or fragmented natural growth of population, expected to reach healthy ecosystems isn’t the diversity of habitat, largely caused by humanity’s 9.5 billion by 2050. “Ultimately, it all species but the health of key plants growing footprint; comes back to how many people
500 CQ Global Researcher there are on Earth, and how much of the resources each of those people Tropical Species Are Declining uses,” says Anthony Barnosky, a pro - The populations of wild species in tropical climates have declined by more fessor of integrative biology at the Uni - than 60 percent since 1970, while those in temperate climates have seen versity of California, Berkeley, who was moderate growth (top graph). Freshwater and marine vertebrates in temper - lead author on the “state shift” study published in Nature. ate climates have made gains, while those in tropical climates have declined The World Wildlife Fund (WWF), 70 percent and 62 percent, respectively (bottom). The World Wildlife Fund’s an international conservation group, “Living Planet Index” has tracked population trends of more than 2,500 has taken a leading role in tracking vertebrate species since 1970. the state of biodiversity through its an - nual “Living Planet” report. The Change in Population for Species in “Living Planet Index,” group’s 2012 edition found that bio - 1970-2008 diversity has declined globally by around 30 percent between 1970 (the (in percentage) year the WWF began keeping track) 40% 10 30 and 2008. The loss has been worst 20 in the tropics, the richest storehouse 10 of life on the planet, where it has fall - 0 11 -10 en 60 percent. (For more details, -20 see “Current Situation,” p. 512. ) -30 Temperate Perhaps most alarmingly, the WWF -40 -50 Tropical estimates, every year humans use one- -60 Global and-a-half years’ worth of natural re - -70 -80% sources — in other words, 50 percent 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2008 more resources than the Earth can re - plenish in a year. “In essence, the Earth has built up a bank account of Percent Change in “Living Planet Index” for Vertebrates, natural resources, and what we’re doing 1970-2008 is eating into our principal,” says Colby (by type of climate and environment) Loucks, WWF senior director for con - servation science. By 2030, the fund (in percentage) Temperate climate projects, humans will need the equiv - 60 Tropical climate 53% 50 Global 36% alent of two planets worth of re - 40 sources to meet their annual demands. 30 20 Efforts are under way to reverse 10 5% those trends. The Convention on Bio - 0 -10 -22% diversity, adopted by the United Na - -20 -25% -30 -37% tions in 1992 and eventually signed -40 -44% by 193 nations, commits participating -50 -62% -60 -70% countries to conserve biodiversity and -70 promote sustainable development. 12 -80 Terrestrial Freshwater Marine In 2002, the convention set a goal of achieving by 2010 “a significant re - Sources: “Living Planet Report 2012,” World Wildlife Fund for Nature, 2012, p. 130, awsassets. duction of the current rate of biodi - panda.org/downloads/1_lpr_2012_online_full_size_single_pages_Þnal_120516.pdf; “Living versity loss at the global, regional and Planet Index Interactive Graph,” World Wildlife Fund for Nature, 2012, wwf.panda.org/about_ national level . . . to the benefit of all our_earth/all_publications/living_planet_report/living_planet_report_graphics/lpi_interactive/ life” on Earth. 13 But the convention’s latest summa - ted individual reports had completely has been degraded and lost biologi - ry report bluntly concluded that this met their deadline, the report said. cal productivity since 1980. Of 292 goal “has not been met.” 14 In fact, The study also found that nearly one- large river systems, two-thirds have none of the 110 nations that submit - quarter of the planet’s land surface Continued on p. 503
www.globalresearcher.com Nov. 6, 2012 501 VANISHING BIODIVERSITY
Inside the ‘Doomsday Vault,’ Hope for Survival But some conservationists ask: Is it enough?
igh above the Arctic Circle, on the remote Norwegian “They have preserved quite a bit of diversity,” Mooney says, “but island of Svalbard, a huge vault has been carved into their ability to crank up and produce enough seed is very low. Hthe side of a mountain. If its isolated location, concrete They really can’t do that quickly. The quality of the storage is walls and steel doors aren’t security enough, the so-called also very variable. A lot of the collections are kind of poorly “doomsday vault” is also surrounded by tall fences and motion maintained, even in some of the major centers.” detectors ready to sense any intruders. The facility holds a treasure so common it can be found blowing in the wind on every continent, and yet it could hold the key to humanity’s survival in the event of a global disaster. The “doomsday vault” was built to hold seeds from wheat, corn, rice and other crop varieties from all around the world, a storehouse of genetic diversity intended to provide a final safeguard against the consequences of biodiversity loss. The collection is part of a system of some 1,400 other seed banks around the world. 1 But some conservationists are asking whether even the dooms - day vault and its sister vaults around the world are sufficient. More than 740,000 seed samples are being kept in the chilled chambers of Svalbard, according to a recent estimate. 2 The pro - f f r
ject, a collaborative effort among the Norwegian government and a c S
several private organizations, reflects awareness of the precarious - i l
ness of the genetic underpinnings of the world’s food supply. O / s e
Selective breeding to boost crop productivity and other de - g a
sirable features, such as early maturity, has led to a dramatic m I
y
loss in plant diversity, about 75 percent, by most estimates. ( See t t e
p. 505. ) G Moreover, the genetic uniformity of major crops leaves them The 24,200th seed sample — from a pink, wild banana native to more vulnerable to diseases and environmental shifts like cli - China — is added to the 3.5 billion seeds stored in the sub- mate change. By including many different strains of various freezing vault at the Millennium Seed Bank in Sussex, England, on plants, the seed banks are meant to provide genetic ammuni - Oct. 15, 2009. Some 1,400 seed banks across the globe preserve tion to protect against such problems, or even to restore a thousands of plants to be used in the event of a species should it be wiped out by a calamity. global environmental disaster. However, some experts say, the seed banks represent only a tiny portion of the genetic richness that once existed in the Mooney and Worede are among the experts who say it’s wild. Even more problematic, the seeds in storage represent important that the seed banks, while necessary as an emer - nature frozen at a particular point in time, unable to evolve to gency safeguard, not be seen as a sufficient substitute for main - meet changing conditions. taining genetic diversity on working farms around the world. “Conservation is about keeping diversity in a dynamic state. “Farmers have been the custodians of biodiversity, and they . . . The Svalbard gene bank, and many others, focus only on need support,” said Worede. “We lose everything if we lose di - collecting and preserving. . . . You can capture only so much, versity in the field.” 4 and in 100 years it will be useless because the planet will have — Reed Karaim changed,” said Melaku Worede, an Ethiopian agronomist who has been in the forefront of efforts to keep different strains of 1 Charles Siebert, “Food Ark,” National Geographic , July, 2011, http://ngm.nation important crops and their wild relatives alive in nature. 3 algeographic.com/2011/07/food-ark/siebert-text. Pat Mooney — executive director of ETC, an international or - 2 Scott Stump, “ ‘Doomsday Vault’ holds seeds that could save the world,” Today.com, March 2, 2012, http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/46602078/ns/ ganization based in Ottawa, Canada, that tracks the impact of today.today_news/t/doomsday-vault-holds-seeds-could-save-world/#.UGx6rI4rzww. biodiversity loss in the developing world — also questions the 3 Melaku Worede, interview with GRAIN , April 22, 2009, www.grain.org/article/ ability of the seed banks to respond to a major crisis, such as entries/709-melaku-worede-interview-in-english. a new disease sweeping through one of the major food grains. 4 Ibid.
502 CQ Global Researcher Continued from p. 501 “Things will be different in a very and co-founder who is now a frequent become moderately or highly frag - noticeable way,” says Barnosky, of UC- critic of current conservation claims. 21 mented by dams and reservoirs, mak - Berkley. “The last time one of these “In a sense, every microsecond is a ing it difficult for many species to sur - global state shifts happened — about tipping point because everything is al - vive. And more than 19,300 square 11,000 years ago, when the Earth moved ways changing. miles of forests — crucial biodiverse from an ice age to the interglacial “Change is the only constant. Sta - habitats — are cleared every year by period (that we’re still in) — we lost sis would mean the end of time,” con - loggers, farmers, ranchers and devel - about 50 percent of the big-body an - tinues Moore, who now operates opers. One bright spot: The species- imals and saw dramatic changes in Greenspirit, a consulting firm in Van - rich Amazon rainforest is more pro - what species lived where. That’s the couver, Canada, that advises and rep - tected now than in the past. sort of changes we’re talking about.” resents corporations on sustainable The news is grim for many wild The last global state shift took about environmental policies. “It is inevitable animal populations. Various wild ver - 1,600 years, but Barnosky says things there will be change, and the judg - tebrate species dwindled by an aver - could happen much more quickly this ment as to whether or not that age of 31 percent between 1970 and time because of the impact of the two change is negative or positive is a 2006 . 15 And many of those are tee - principal drivers of change — climate value judgment.” tering close to extinction. Even some change and an expanding human Moore believes life on Earth is now domesticated creatures are at risk. One- population. “What’s happening now is more profuse than during most of the fifth of all livestock breeds, such as much more intense than what hap - planet’s history, part of an explosion cattle and sheep, could face extinc - pened then,” he says. of biodiversity that began many mil - tion due to over-reliance on fewer and It may seem hard to believe man’s lions of years ago. He acknowledges fewer breeds, leading to less genetic impact on the planet could be more that humans have been responsible for diversity and leaving them vulnerable significant than the retreat of the ice the extinction of many species but be - to disease. 16 age, but at that time 30 percent of Earth’s lieves that trend, too, is overstated. “It’s “Our mathematical models and our surface went from being covered by only been since 1930 that we cared observations and our experiments show glaciers to being ice-free. Humans al - whether a species went extinct or not, that we’re not necessarily doomed,” ready have converted 43 percent of the and since then I believe we have done said Paul Leadley, director of the Lab - globe’s land for agricultural or urban a fairly good job,” Moore says. “It’s oratoire d’Ecologie at the University of use, with much of the remaining land very likely that the rate of extinction Paris at Orsay and one of the study’s cross-hatched with roads. 19 has slowed.” authors. “But they do show that if we The scientific consensus is that human However, Mikael Fortelius, a pro - don’t do something now, we will be activities also have increased the con - fessor of evolutionary paleontology at in big trouble.” 17 centration of carbon dioxide and other the Institute of Biotechnology, Uni - As conservationists and scientists as - gases that cause global warming. High - versity of Helsinki, Finland, and co- sess the impact of biodiversity loss, here er CO 2 levels have increased ocean author of the Nature study, says the are some key questions being debated: acidity, while polluted runoff from cities current rate of extinctions is cause for and chemically fertilized fields has alarm. “If species were going extinct Is Earth at a global biodiversity- damaged rivers and coastal areas . 20 at the rate they’ve always done, we loss tipping point? The cumulative impact of these wouldn’t have to worry, but they’re As they examine the degree to which changes is growing as the human pop - going extinct at a thousand times that, human activity has changed the plan - ulation swells. By 2050, when the pop - so, yeah, we should be worried,” he et, some researchers believe the Earth ulation is expected to reach 9.5 billion, says. “It’s not a difference in kind, but could be nearing a “state shift,” or a “we’ll have changed well over 50 per - it’s a huge difference in degree.” “tipping” point, in which the planet cent of the planet’s land surface,” says Fortelius’ ongoing research sup - will see a dramatic change in its bio - Barnosky. “At that point, I’d say we ports the idea that state shifts can hap - diversity. In an article in Nature , the would very likely see dramatic changes pen quickly. While cautioning that his researchers predicted it would likely in the remaining places that aren’t af - results are preliminary, Fortelius says include mass extinctions, drastic fected directly.” fossil records show that in the past, changes in species abundance, distri - But some experts doubt a shift is ecosystems, or “ecological packages,” bution and diversity and even new at hand. “The concept of a tipping have remained stable for long periods evolutionary trajectories for some forms point drives me crazy,” says Patrick — sometimes millions of years — be - of life. 18 Moore, a former Greenpeace member fore changing. “Then that state shift
www.globalresearcher.com Nov. 6, 2012 503 VANISHING BIODIVERSITY
Evidence indicates the small fish that One-Third of Species Are Threatened had been devouring cod eggs even - Thirty-six percent of 47,677 plant and animal species being tracked by tually grew too numerous and cleaned out their own food supply, so their scientists were endangered, critically endangered or vulnerable to becoming populations collapsed. 22 endangered as of 2009,* according to the International Union for Conserva - But even some scientists who are tion of Nature (IUCN), which reports on the status each year of select species worried about the degree of biodi - of, among others, mammals, birds, amphibians, corals and conifers. Two percent versity loss doubt that the planet is on of those species already had become extinct in 2009. the verge of a global state shift. Charles Perrings, a professor of environmen - Threat Status of World Species, 2009 tal economics at Arizona State Uni - versity, Tempe, isn’t sure there is a Near threatened status threshold at which biodiversity change 8% takes place on a planetary scale. He believes shifts are likely to be con - fined to specific ecosystems. Vulnerable “Are we at a global tipping point? 19% I don’t see that. I think, case by case, Least you can see these shifts, and in some threatened instances, there may be a change of 40% regime, or the system might just lose Critically endangered functionality,” he says. “But I don’t see 7% the evidence for that globally.”
14% y c n a
InsufÞcient v
r Does monoculture agriculture e Endangered data s n threaten biodiversity? o C 10% Modern agriculture relies heavily on e r u
Extinct or extinct in the wild t “monocrops” — or monoculture — in a N
which large swaths of land are cov -
2% e h ered with one crop. It was a major * Most up-to-date Þgures available. T component of the “Green Revolution” Source: Global Biodiversity Outlook 3 , Convention on Biological Diversity, 2010, p. 27, www.cbd.int/doc/publications/gbo/gbo3-Þnal-en.pdf. Information is drawn from the IUCN’s of the 1950s and ’60s, which intro - “Red List of Threatened Species.” duced higher-yielding crop varieties and modern farming methods to the happens very quickly, comparatively, late. The fish just wouldn’t come back, developing world. and the old system completely disap - and it wasn’t clear why,” he says. The worldwide spread of mono - pears and is replaced.” Researchers finally realized cod culture has been hailed for saving hun - Looking at planetary changes oc - had been predators of smaller fish dreds of millions of people from famine curring today, he agrees “we are get - that fed, among other things, on cod and with feeding a global human pop - ting into the range in several different eggs. With the cod population deci - ulation that has more than doubled in areas where we are close to that 50 to mated the number of these small fish less than 50 years. 60 percent mark that is often associ - boomed and by devouring the eggs The recent biotech revolution, which ated with state shifts.” of their former predators, they kept uses genetic engineering to create new Many cases already exist of local the cod population depleted. “The plant varieties with very specific traits ecosystems tipping into new states. system had flipped past the tipping — such as tolerance of certain herbi - J. Emmett Duffy, a professor at the Vir - point,” he says. “You ended up with cides — also has pushed farmers to - ginia Institute of Marine Science at the a stable system that prevented cod ward monoculture. Genetically modi - College of William and Mary, in from coming back.” fied (GM) breeds are designed to be Williamsburg, Va., points to the col - At that point, Duffy says, it takes raised on fields planted in a single lapse of the cod fishery off the coast another significant shift to move the crop. The use of GM crops has ex - of Eastern Canada in the 1980s. “A system. In the North Atlantic, the cod ploded since they were introduced in moratorium was imposed. It was too appear to be returning after decades. the mid-1990s. Between 1996 and
504 CQ Global Researcher 2000, the number of acres planted worldwide in biotech crops j umped from 4.2 million acres to 109.2 mil - lion acres . 23 Yet, the expansion of monoculture has significantly reduced the genetic variety of food plants around the world, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which estimates that 75 percent of crop diversity was lost between 1900 and 2000 . 24 A handful of breeds also now dominate among domesticated livestock, although the loss of livestock diversity has gotten less attention than dwindling plant diversity. Livestock loss has been “probably about 80 to 90 percent,” says Pat Mooney, execu - tive director of ETC, an international or - ganization in Ottawa, Canada, that ex - amines the impact of new technologies on traditional societies. “The loss there has been massive.” The genetic uniformity of crops and animals makes them susceptible to new diseases and pests, which can spread quickly through a monocul - a k a
ture field or herd without encounter - l e ing much natural resistance. “In terms b m u T of biodiversity, there’s not that much y n
difference between paving something n o S over for a city and clearing or re - / s e placing it with a monoculture of corn g a m I and soy. Those are equivalent, and to y t t
some extent if you add in all the pes - e G ticides that are going to go on that / P F
[crop], it may be even worse,” says A Kierán Suckling, executive director of Indonesian fishermen load tuna in Denpasar, Bali, on July 9, 2012. Many marine species and ecosystems, especially the bluefin tuna and coral reefs — have been decimated at an the Center for Biological Diversity in alarming rate in recent years by overfishing, coastal development, Tucson, Ariz. pollution and climate change. But Clive James, an agricultural scientist who worked with Norman development of crops that can thrive hectare,” James says. “What you have Borlaug * at CIMMYT, a Mexican agri - on less water and nutrients and resist in biotechnology is a land-saving tech - cultural research center, believes bio - specific pests while yielding enough nology, allowing you to increase the engineered crops can take the Green to feed the world’s growing popula - production of food and fiber on ex - Revolution one step further while tion, he says. isting land.” helping to preserve biodiversity. Only “We have 1.5 billion hectares [3.7 Twenty years ago, James founded genetic manipulation will enable the billion acres] of land in crops today, the International Service for the Ac - and if you want to protect the Ama - quisition of Agri-biotech Applications * Borlaug was a Nobel-Prize winning plant zon or other endangered habitats or (ISAAA), to share the benefits of crop scientist hailed as the father of the Green Rev - areas that are biodiversity sanctuaries, biotechnology with farmers in devel - olution. the key is to increase productivity per oping countries. In the 15 years since
www.globalresearcher.com Nov. 6, 2012 505 VANISHING BIODIVERSITY
bioengineered crops began to be used Roundup Ready crops, which allow Does biodiversity loss threaten widely, farmers have boosted produc - heavier applications of the company’s human civilization? tion by 276 million tons, he says. Roundup herbicide. The extinctions of wild animals and “Without those 276 million tons, you “Seventy-seven percent of the land plants sometimes are dismissed as hav - would have had to put another 91 mil - area is in herbicide tolerant crops,” he ing little practical impact on the well- lion hectares [225 million acres] into says. “It doesn’t improve the yield. It’s being of the human race. Yet civiliza - production,” he contends. simply there to encourage the priority tion is built on exploiting the planet’s Some conservationists, however, use of the herbicides the company sells.” biological richness. such as Vandana Shiva, an interna - He notes that the increased use of her - People rely on biological diversity tional environmental activist who bicides and other pesticides can be dev - for — among other things — food, founded Navdanya, an Indian organi - astating on other plants and creatures. medicines, shelter and clothing. More zation that promotes biodiversity con - “There’s an indirect loss, which is quite than 70,000 plant species are used in servation and organic farming, believe substantial,” Mooney says. “We’ve had a modern and traditional medicines alone, the benefits of bioengineering and huge loss in pollinators — bees, which according to the International Union monoculture have been vastly over - are absolutely essential. Two-thirds of for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), stated. “Our work in Navdanya shows our crops depend on wild pollinators.” the world’s oldest environmental or - that biodiverse organic farming pro - (See sidebar, p. 508. ) ganization. 26 Healthy, biodiverse duces more food and nutrition per The wilder relatives of cultivated ecosystems also provide goods and acre than chemical monocultures,” she crops, known as “land races,” which services, ranging from filtering fresh says. “Intensifying biodiversity is the often grow along the edges of fields, water to removing carbon dioxide solution to hunger.” also can be damaged by the chemi - from the air. The IUCN puts the value Supporters of biotech crops include cals used to protect monocrop agri - of those services, which humanity cur - billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates, culture. These land races mix geneti - rently receives for free, at $16 trillion whose Bill and Melinda Gates Foun - cally with their cultivated relatives, to $64 trillion. 27 dation has invested significantly in the helping to provide natural, hardier hy - The possibility that the planet could development of genetically modified brids, Shiva points out. be reaching an environmental tipping rice and cassava (a food staple for Genetically modified crops also re - point because of the accelerated rate 250 million Africans) that provide en - portedly have cross-pollinated with wild, of extinctions raises the question of hanced nutrients. The foundation also non-GM species, breeding herbicide - whether biodiversity loss threatens the has supported research into drought- resistant weeds. This creates a vicious human race. While scientists are not resistant GM varieties of corn. cycle in which such “super weeds” re - suggesting that humans themselves face While acknowledging that wide - quire even more chemical use, increasing extinction, some worry that biodiver - spread concerns persist about geneti - the damage to other “ecologically use - sity loss could have severe conse - cally modified crops, Gates believes ful plant species,” Shiva notes. quences for humankind. “Do I think the necessity of finding new ways to Nevertheless, even some scientists there’s a high likelihood of world cat - help developing nations feed them - who are concerned about biodiversi - astrophe? I think it’s a real possibility. selves means seeking innovative ap - ty loss in monocrop agriculture be - No one knows the future, but if we proaches to boosting production. lieve it’s needed in order to balance don’t change the way we’re doing Speaking at the 2010 World Econom - environmental needs with those of a things today and just go blindly for - ic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Gates swelling human population. ward, we’re setting ourselves up for said for some valuable crop charac - “When you look at agriculture, you disaster,” says UC-Berkeley’s Barnosky. teristics, such as drought resistance, have two ways of growing: either ex - The point is approaching, he says, the GM approach “can probably do tensively or intensively. Extensively at which biodiversity loss could result better than any other approach.” He means using more fields, more land. in a fairly rapid reduction in the nat - sees genetic engineering as “a tool, Intensively, you have more high-yielding ural resources available. Agricultural pro - particularly for disease resistance” that plants, more fertilizer and so on,” says duction also could be significantly af - could be “a real help” to developing Arizona State University’s Perrings. “If fected as growing patterns are changed world farmers. 25 you ask which is the biggest threat to by a shifting of global ecosystems. All But Mooney notes that most bio - biodiversity, it is the extensive growth of this would be occurring as human engineered crops have been designed of agriculture. Intensification is a much population growth puts added pressure primarily to allow more chemical use. better solution to dealing with the on the planet’s productive capacity. Prominent examples are Monsanto’s challenge.” Continued on p. 508
506 CQ Global Researcher Chronology
1973 1998 1900-1940s President Richard M. Nixon signs U.N. declares 1998 the “Year of Concern about extinctions landmark Endangered Species Act the Ocean” to promote awareness leads to first major efforts to to protect both species and their of threats to marine habitats. protect endangered species. ecosystems. . . . Convention on International Trade in Endangered • 1901 Species of Wild Fauna and Flora President Theodore Roosevelt is first negotiated by a group of greatly expands wilderness preser - concerned nations and later signed 2000-Present vation in the United States, eventu - by 176 countries. Researchers forecast accelerat - ally protecting 230 million acres. ing extinction rates as world 1980 population continues to rise. 1914 American biologist Thomas E. “Martha,” the last passenger pigeon Lovejoy III coins the term 2002 on Earth, dies at Cincinnati Zoo. “biological diversity.” Members of Convention on Biodiver - sity set targets for reducing biodiver - 1934 1988 sity loss by 2010; heads of state later Geneva Convention for the Regula - British ecologist Norman Myers, endorse the goals at World Summit tion of Whaling is one of first inter - identifies 10 endangered global on Sustainable Development. national treaties to protect a species. “hot spots” with exceptional biodiversity; list is later expanded 2005 1936 to 34. U.N.’s “Millennium Ecosystem As - The last Tasmanian tiger and the sessment” finds human activity has world’s largest carnivorous marsupial • seriously degraded the services go extinct. provided by 24 vital ecosystems. 1948 1990s International 2008 The world’s first global environmen - community organizes to protect Norway becomes first country to tal group, the International Union endangered species. support a Brazilian fund to pre - for the Protection of Nature (later serve the rainforests, offering the International Union for Conser - 1992 $1 billion for conservation efforts. vation of Nature) is founded. Convention on Biodiversity, intend - ed to protect biodiversity and pro - 2010 • mote sustainable development, is Convention on Biodiversity ac - signed by 150 nations at Earth knowledges that the world has Summit in Rio de Janiero, Brazil. fallen short of 2010 targets for re - 1960s-1980s President Bill Clinton signs it in ducing biodiversity loss. Modern environmental move - 1993, but Senate fails to ratify it. ment is born; biodiversity loss 2012 becomes global concern. 1995 Brazilian government says about International Coral Reef Initiative is 150 million acres of Amazon rain - 1962 launched to protect endangered forest have been conserved, al - Government biologist Rachel Car - reefs through collaborative, multi - though deforestation continues, but son’s best-selling book Silent national efforts. at a slower pace. . . . WWF’s “Liv - Spring ties pesticides to declines ing Planet Report” says biodiversity of several wild species, helping to 1997 declined 30 percent from 1970 to spur the environmental movement. More than 150 nations agree on 2008, mainly in bio-rich tropical re - Kyoto Protocol to reduce emis - gions. . . . Study in Nature says 1970 sions causing global warming, Earth may be reaching a “state World Wildlife Fund (WWF) considered a key cause of biodi - shift,” or tipping point, in which launches Living Planet Index to versity loss; United States refuses biodiversity loss significantly track biodiversity. to ratify it. changes global ecosystems.
www.globalresearcher.com Nov. 6, 2012 507 VANISHING BIODIVERSITY
Mystery of the Disappearing Bees New studies point to widely used pesticide for worldwide decline.
n the mid-2000s, beekeepers and others noticed that honey - pollen they gather. Studies confirm that the neonicotinoids — bee colonies — whose role as pollinators makes them crit - long suspected as a cause of the bee disappearance — can Iical to plant life and, thus, the entire food chain — were be deadly to bees in two ways. Research by scientists primar - disappearing throughout the developed world at an alarming ily affiliated with the University of Stirling in Scotland found rate. that bee colonies that encountered the neonicotinoids had sig - Since bees exist both in commercial hives and the wild, an nificantly reduced growth rates and an 85 percent reduction in exact tally of the losses are impossible, but millions of colonies the production of bee queens, critical for future survival. and billions of bees have died. Everything from African virus - “Given the scale of use of neonicotinoids, we suggest that es to global warming were suggested as possible causes for they may be having a considerable negative effect on wild the disappearance. But now researchers believe they may have bumble bee populations across the developed world,” the au - the solved the mystery. Three new studies, including two pub - thors wrote. 3 lished in the respected journal Science earlier this year, blame Another study by French researchers indicates that even non - a class of widely used pesticides known as “neonicotinoids.” 1 lethal doses of the pesticide can impair bees’ homing instincts At least 142 million acres of corn, wheat and cottonseeds that allow them to find their way back to their colonies. The in North America were treated in 2010 with the chemicals, scientists used tiny, radio transmitting chips to track bees ex - which also are common in home gardening products. 2 Neon - posed to neonicotinoids and found the damage was sufficient icotinoids, also known as “neonics,” were developed in the to lead to the collapse of colonies. 4 The study also provides 1980s and became common in the following decade. Bayer, an answer to another mystery that had puzzled researchers: Why the German chemical manufacturer, sold the first commercial they didn’t find more dead bees when bee colonies died out. version of neonics and still dominates the business. A third study by Italian scientists found that dust contain - Trace elements of the insecticide are absorbed by plants ing the pesticide released during planting can also be lethal to and are present in the nectar on which bees feed and the bees. 5
Continued from p. 506 but I totally reject the idea that we’re differently,” he says. “We are actually “There will be more people, less in a sixth mass extinction.” capable of increasing biodiversity.” clean water, less of all kinds of things,” Moore believes the argument that ex - Other scientists believe losing biodi - Barnosky says. “It’s going to be hard - tinction rates are 100 or 1,000 times the versity isn’t critical if key species are er to feed people. Where our agri - normal background rate is based on preserved. “Just counting the number of cultural lands are now — they’re not faulty science and mostly questionable species you’ve got is very misleading,” going to be there, which leads to eco - estimates of how many species exist says J. Philip Grime, a plant ecologist nomic and political instability.” overall. He also thinks scientists who see at the University of Sheffield in England. To avoid major disruptions, gov - the possibility of a catastrophe ahead “The big questions are what kind of or - ernments must address biodiversity loss are underestimating the ability of plants ganisms are they, what do they do in in the next couple of decades, he says. and animals to adapt to an environment the landscape and how are they going “Here’s the reality: By 2050, we’ve got altered by humans and of humans to to respond to what we’re doing to the 9 billion people we have to feed and extract the resources they need without planet. That’s why [focusing on] biodi - provide for. We have to start now, be - seriously impacting biodiversity. versity is not very helpful.” cause when we get to 2040, it’s too late.” Environmentally responsible logging, But Bradley J. Cardinale, principal But some skeptics say the threat is for example, he says “is not respon - author of the Nature paper assessing seriously overstated. “It’s part of the ‘end sible for much [biodiversity loss] at all.” the cost of biodiversity loss, says it’s is nigh’ rhetoric, which has been with Biodiversity can flourish even where critical to maintain complex ecosys - us since the beginning of humans,” says landscapes have been severely depleted tems. “Losing biodiversity is going to Moore, of Greenspirit. “If they think the through human interaction, he says. reduce how productive and how sus - sky is falling, fine. I don’t think it is. “With reclamation, it is often possible tainable most ecological processes are,” Certainly, there are places where to return the land to a higher state of he says, “and almost everything we species are endangered and some areas ecosystem biodiversity than was pre - care about, everything a biosystem where we’re seeing a loss of diversity, sent initially, by contouring the land gives to humanity, depends on those
508 CQ Global Researcher The three studies are likely to add to pressure on the U.S. a d
Environmental Protection Agency to ban neonicotinoids. Sev - l a b
eral European nations have already instituted partial bans on a G
6
the pesticides. y m
Bee researchers and environmental activists say they still be - e R /
lieve other environmental causes may also be playing a role s e
7 g
in the disappearance of bees. But the three studies indicate a m I
at least a large share of the mystery seems to have been solved. y t t e G
— Reed Karaim / P F A 1 Richard Schiffman, “Mystery of the disappearing bees: Solved!” Reuters, A beekeeper tends a hive in southwestern France on June 1, 2012. April 9, 2012, http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2012/04/09/mystery-of-the- Three new studies indicate that in the past decade widely used disappearing-bees-solved/. 2 pesticides known as neonicotinoids may have caused the Tom Philpott, “3 New Studies Link Bee Decline to Bayer Pesticide,” Moth - deaths of millions of colonies of bees — whose role as er Jones , March 29, 2012, www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2012/03/bayer- pesticide-bees-studies. pollinators makes them critical to the entire food chain. 3 Penelope P. Whithorn, et al. , “Neonicotinoid Pesticide Reduces Bumble Bee Colony Growth and Queen Production,” Science , April 20, 2012, www. sciencemag.org/content/336/6079/351.abstract#aff-1. corn coated seeds,” Environmental Science and Technology , March 6, 2012, 4 Mickaël Henry, et al. , “A Common Pesticide Decreases Foraging Success www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22292570. and Survival in Honey Bees,” Science , April 20, 2012, www.sciencemag.org/ 6 “Colony Collapse Disorder: European Bans on Neonicotinoid Pesticides,” content/336/6079/348.abstract. Environmental Protection Agency, May 9, 2012, www.epa.gov/opp00001/ 5 Andrea Tapparo, “Assessment of the environmental exposure of honey - about/intheworks/ccd-european-ban.html. bees to particulate matter containing neonicotinoid insecticides coming from 7 Philpott, op. cit.
processes. It’s the variety of life in na - humans could be courting disaster. imagine most of it disappearing. But five ture that provides us with all the goods “We’re maybe two centuries away from great extinction events have occurred and services we count on.” the situation being equivalent to a during the planet’s 4.5 billion-year his - Cardinale, a professor at the School mass extinction where 75 percent of tory. 28 In each case, 75 percent or more of Natural Resources and Environment everything is gone. Can we survive of all species disappeared . 29 at the University of Michigan, Ann that? That’s the question everyone in Perhaps most well-known — and Arbor, says researchers continue to dis - the discipline is trying to answer,” he most recent — was the great extinc - cover new connections that indicate says. “I don’t think we have to act like tion that occurred 65 million years ago, how extinction or even a shrinking it’s doomsday. But I do think global when many researchers believe the population of one species can have loss of biodiversity ranks among the impact from a large asteroid kicked unexpected ramifications. One study, most important and dramatic problems enough particulate matter into the air he says, found that the incidence of in modern history.” to change the climate and wipe out Lyme disease in humans is tied to the nearly all of the dinosaurs. Today’s number of different species of mam - birds are generally thought to be the mals in forests. With more species, the descendants of dinosaurs that man - ticks that carry the disease are spread BACKGROUND aged to survive. 30 thinner and the disease is diluted. “We But the most dramatic extinction, have almost no idea how the well- known as the Great Dying, occurred being of our own species might be about 250 million years ago and result - linked to the great variety of life that Extinction Epochs ed in the elimination of up to 96 per - is the most striking feature of life on cent of all species, including plants, in - our planet,” Cardinale says. sects and larger creatures. All of life on Without a better understanding of o the nonscientist, life can still seem the planet today descended from the what’s at stake, Cardinale believes, Tso bountiful on Earth it’s hard to 4 percent of species that survived . 31
www.globalresearcher.com Nov. 6, 2012 509 VANISHING BIODIVERSITY
Scientists aren’t sure exactly what caused the Great Dying, but massive volcanic eruptions in Siberia, setting coalfields aflame and filling the air with both volcanic and coal ash, are thought to be a possible cause. 32 One or more asteroid strikes also may have played a role. The other great extinctions oc - curred 440 million, 359 million and 200 million years ago. Causes vary, but a unifying element seems to be
a climate change caused by dust and m a T dirt being hurled into the atmosphere o i r
a after an asteroid collision, volcanic M
/ 33
s eruption or some other event. “The e g
a evidence would support that each of m I
y the big five occurred at the same t t
e time that major shifts in the overall G ‘normal’ for global climate occurred, and also to a large extent changes in ocean chemistry,” says U.C. Berke - ley’s Barnosky. “This may be highly relevant to interpreting the present state of events, given that we are wit - nessing unusually fast changes in cli - mate and ocean chemistry [acidifica - tion], this time of course caused by humans.” In more recent times, geologically speaking, large numbers of species disappeared during certain periods. About 73,000 years ago, some scien - e b
i tists believe the eruption of a mam - j l A moth volcano in Indonesia may have d e T
/ thrown so much ash into the air that s e
g it reduced the human population a m
I around the world to as few as 10,000
y
t 34 t people. e
G The advance and retreat of glac - Threats to Biodiversity iers around the world during the last 100,000 years also caused periods Construction of the world’s third-largest hydroelectric project — the Belo Monte of significant extinctions. 35 The cur - dam near Altamira, Brazil — will destroy up to 230 square miles of Amazon rent epoch — known as the rainforest (top). Although nearly three-quarters of the 270,000 square miles Holocene — began about 11,700 of biodiverse forest habitats protected worldwide since 2003 have been in Brazil’s years ago with the retreat of ice-age biologically rich Amazon, deforestation continues in the region. The illegal trade in glaciers. The Holocene has been threatened species — such as these endangered sea turtles (bottom) that have marked by the spread of what the been stuffed to sell to wildlife traffickers — is another threat to the planet’s biodiversity. University of Helsinki’s Fortelius calls A worker from the Philippine Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau in Manila displays “the ultimate invasive species” — one of the hundreds of turtles seized from Vietnamese fishermen last April off the human beings. southeast coast of the Philippines.
510 CQ Global Researcher fore being decimated by European- Great Plains, for example, were once Humans and Extinction American hunters. By 1889 the popu - largely native grasslands, with a variety lation had fallen as low as 1,100, be - of species. Many animals that existed iant mammals once roamed the fore conservation efforts began to in this ecosystem were either forced to GEarth. The giant sloth, the woolly rebuild numbers. 37 move to new territory or declined steeply mammoth, the short-faced bear (which Other creatures disappeared forev - in population. stood 13 feet tall on its hind legs and er. “The dodo bird and the passenger In the last century, concern that com - weighed nearly a ton), the giant con - pigeons were victims of overhunting mercial fishing was hunting whales to dor and, in Australia, a giant kangaroo for food; the Carolina parakeet, the the brink of extinction led to one of were just some examples of these only parrot that was native to North the first international efforts to protect “megafauna,” as scientists call them. America, was eradicated by farmers a species. The Geneva Convention for These massive creatures had all dis - because it ate their crops,” wrote Moore the Regulation of Whaling became ef - appeared by about 8000 B.C., proba - bly due to human hunting, according to some scientists. Most megafauna in Australia disappeared relatively soon after the arrival of humans. “It was be - cause these large, slow moving mam - mals had never had to run away from people with spears before,” says Moore, of Greenspirit. Humans also began selecting and breeding strains of plants for agricul - ture in pre-historic times. The earliest a varieties of wheat were cultivated in a z a F the Middle East as long as 11,000 years d e
36 l
ago. Corn has similarly ancient ori - a h K gins. “We would never have maize (corn) / s e today if farmers in Mexico hadn’t se - g a m I lected from grasses, selected the best y t t
grain over a long period of time, thou - e G sands of years ago,” says James, of the / P F
International Service for the Acquisi - A tion of Agri-biotech Applications. Yemeni and foreign tourists admire a dragon blood tree, unique to the virtually untouched By hunting some mammals to ex - Yemeni island of Socotra, a site of global importance to biodiversity conservation. Located in the northwestern Indian Ocean, Socotra is sometimes referred to as “the Galapagos of the tinction and domesticating certain plants Indian Ocean” because of its unique and spectacular vegetation. The island’s flora are and animals, humans were altering the among the world 10 most endangered island flora systems. ecosystems in which they lived and impacting biodiversity long before recorded human civilization. “Part of in Confessions of a Greenpeace Dropout: fective in 1935, although it was ignored the change we’ve witnessed in the last The Making of a Sensible Environ - by some nations. 40 Other treaties and 10,000 years is directed change,” notes mentalist. 38 laws would follow as the conservation Perrings, of Arizona State University. Humans also have caused extinc - and environmental movements gained “It’s the result of deliberate actions tions — either intentionally or acci - strength. The organized effort to pro - taken by people to promote certain dentally — by introducing foreign tect some plants and animals marked species and get rid of others.” species, particularly on islands or other a sea change in humanity’s long rela - Humans continued to press species contained ecosystems, that overwhelmed tionship with its fellow inhabitants. into — or to the edge of — extinc - native creatures. 39 Finally, humans have The 1973 U.S. Endangered Species tion without much thought until rela - pervasively changed their environment Act, which extended federal protec - tively recently. The population of through the spread of agriculture. The tion to species identified as at risk, is North American bison on the Great grain fields that now cover thousands considered a landmark step in the Plains was estimated at 60 million be - of square miles across the American process. 41 The Center for Biological
www.globalresearcher.com Nov. 6, 2012 511 VANISHING BIODIVERSITY
Diversity studied how many species have have national biodiversity strategies and Overfishing also threatens ocean become extinct since the act became action plans. At the international level, fisheries, a critical source of the world’s law. “We found that the vast majority of financial resources have been mobi - food. In Africa and South Asia alone, species that were listed (as endangered) lized and progress has been made in about 400 million people depend on in the act were saved from extinction,” developing mechanisms for research, fish for most of their animal protein . 46 Suckling says. “The good news is we monitoring and scientific assessment The amount of fish taken out of the have a tool that works. Unfortunately, of biodiversity,” notes Global Biodi - oceans has increased nearly five-fold there are not that many Endangered versity Outlook 3. 43 since 1950. 47 Eighty percent of the fish Species Acts around the world.” Gains have been made in protect - populations assessed by researchers are Indeed, events around the world ing some of the most critical and en - either “exploited or fully exploited,” ac - reveal very different situations regard - dangered habitats, including tropical cording to Biodiversity Outlook 3. 48 ing biodiversity loss and the range of forests and animal habitat. “Nations as Some of the larger, slower-growing government responses. a whole are now protecting 13 per - fish hunted by humans are the most cent of their land surface in national vulnerable. “The poster child, in some parks, which is great news. The na - ways, is the bluefin tuna. If this were tional parks aren’t always in the places a land vertebrate it would have been CURRENT we’d like them to be, but nonetheless declared an endangered species long countries are coming together to pro - ago,” says Duffy, “and yet it’s [still] tect more of the planet,” says Pimm, fished commercially.” SITUATION of Duke University and the University The oceans remain largely wide of Pretoria. open to exploitation. The nations at - Here is a look at important efforts tending the 2010 meeting of the Con - in key parts of the globe: vention on Biodiversity in Nagoya, Threats and Progress Oceans — Oceans cover 70 per - Japan, agreed to a plan that includes cent of the planet’s surface and hold establishing marine protected areas cov - lthough the sheer profusion of life some of the most critically endangered ering 10 percent of the oceans by 2020. Aon Earth prevents researchers from habitat and species. Currently, however, less than 1 percent developing an accurate estimate of how Increased acidification and warmer of the oceans are in marine reserves. 49 many species have gone extinct in re - water temperatures caused by climate Amazon and Latin America — cent years, reports by the World Wildlife change have made reef-forming corals Species conservation efforts in recent Fund, the Convention on Biological Di - among Earth’s most endangered crea - years have been concentrated in Brazil’s versity and the International Union for tures. In less than 25 years, the num - vast portion of the biologically rich the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) show ber of ocean reefs with living coral Amazon rainforests. “The little-known a continuing and precipitous decline in on at least half of their surfaces has secret is that the Amazon has gone many plant and animal species. The fallen from more than 60 percent to from almost no protection to 57 per - studies show that many of the species only 4 percent. 44 cent protected, and while that’s not are headed for extinction if current trends “These are the rainforests of the enough it shows you can actually are not reversed. sea. There’s a huge diversity of species make a big difference,” said Tom Love - One of the most widely cited mea - that live in coral reefs and nowhere joy , head of the H. John Heinz III sures of plant and animal popula - else,” says Duffy, of the Virginia Insti - Center’s biodiversity effort, based in tions is the IUCN “Red List,” which tute of Marine Science. Should the Washington, D.C. 50 determines the likelihood a species reefs die out, the Global Biodiversity In fact, of the 270,000 square miles may become extinct if current con - Outlook 3 concluded the repercussions worldwide that have been put in pro - ditions persist. The list is based on on the ocean food chain could threat - tected areas since 2003, nearly three- information gathered by species sci - en the livelihoods and food security quarters have been in Brazil, largely entists around the world. As of this of hundreds of millions of people. 45 through collaborative efforts between year, 31 percent of the 63,837 species Losing these ecosystems would also Brazil and a several other nations that had been evaluated were threat - be tragic, Duffy adds, because “reefs and international groups. 51 Norway, ened with extinction . 42 are a major source of interesting chem - for example, is contributing $1 billion But while biodiversity loss contin - ical compounds that have led to new to a Brazilian fund to reduce defor - ues, there have been advances on the drugs and have been used in phar - estation. 52 political front. “Some 170 countries now maceuticals.” Continued on p. 514
512 CQ Global Researcher At Issue:
Is byes iodiversity loss reaching a critical stage?
COLBY LOUCKS PATRICK MOORE SENIOR DIRECTOR , C ONSERVATION SCIENCE CHAIRMAN AND CHIEF SCIENTIST , PROGRAM , W ORLD WILDLIFE FUND GREENSPIRIT ENTERPRISES , V ANCOUVER , CANADA ; A UTHOR , CONFESSIONS OF A WRITTEN FOR CQ GLOBAL RESEARCHER , GREENPEACE DROPOUT : T HE MAKING OF NOVEMBER 2012 A SENSIBLE ENVIRONMENTALIST WRITTEN FOR CQ GLOBAL RESEARCHER , NOVEMBER 2012 ithout a doubt, biodiversity loss is reaching a critical stage. The ever-growing human demand for natural he idea that humans are driving a “sixth mass extinction” resources continues to place tremendous pressures w and that the planet’s biodiversity is in peril is a myth. Biodi - on Earth’s biodiversity, threatening the very ecosystems and versity is higher in our era than it was 550 million years ago. benefits that we rely on for security, health and well-being. t This trend toward increased biodiversity has continued This trend is evident in the World Wildlife Fund’s 2012 throughout the millennia despite five major extinction events “Living Planet Report,” a biennial assessment of the state of — two of which severely reduced the number of species on global biodiversity produced in collaboration with the Zoological Earth. During the Permian-Triassic extinction 250 million years Society of London and the Global Footprint Network. Overall, ago, 90 percent of all species were exterminated, the nearest the report shows global biodiversity has declined nearly 30 per - life ever came to being wiped off the planet. Then 65 million cent since 1970, with tropical and freshwater species experi - years ago the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction caused the loss of encing the most precipitous declines. dinosaurs and about 50 percent of all species. Both events Meanwhile, humanity’s ecological footprint — which com - likely were caused by large meteor impacts, which threw mil - pares our consumption against Earth’s regenerative capacity — lions of tons of debris into the atmosphere and blocked the is rising. Curyrently, humanse are consums ing 50 percent more no sun, reducing plant growth and causing mass starvation. After resources than the Earth can provide annually. We are living both events, however, biodiversity recovered and rose to a as if we have an extra planet at our disposal. In essence, we greater number of species than before. are overdrawing Earth’s bank account — consuming the “prin - Humans have caused species extinction ever since they migrat - cipal” — which is clearly not sustainable. ed from Africa to new environments where indigenous species By 2050, Earth must sustain a projected human population could not cope with human predation. When humans reached of 9-plus billion people while supporting healthy ecosystems Australia 60,000 years ago, they hunted most of the large, slow- and the invaluable free services they provide, such as purifying moving mammals — such as mammoths, mastodons and saber- water, pollinating crops and absorbing the carbon dioxide toothed tigers — to extinction, as they did when they arrived in emissions that contribute to global warming. While technology the New World about 15,000 years ago. When Micronesians dis - can replace some of nature’s benefits — and buffer against covered New Zealand around A.D. 1200 they hunted the giant their degradation — many are irreplaceable. flightless Moas to extinction. And most recently, when Europeans And therein lies the dilemma: How do we reduce the colonized Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific islands, many pressure on Earth’s ability to regenerate itself while creating a local species were exterminated by non-native species brought in prosperous future that provides food, water and energy for all? by the settlers — such as rats, cats, foxes and snakes. The good news is we can reverse this decline in biodiversity The scale of these human-caused extinctions is not remote - and fragile ecosystems if we act now. The longer we wait, the ly close to the mass extinctions caused by natural disasters. more likely we’ll reach a point of no return. Many ideas and ac - Until recently, human-caused extinction was considered a tions can be taken now to head this off, including halting the loss natural event. But serious efforts are now being made to of natural areas and preserving those that remain, increasing the prevent further extinctions, perhaps triggered by the human- efficiency of food supply chains and minimizing carbon emissions. induced extinction of the passenger pigeon in the 1920s. The But that’s just the start. We also must manage resources sus - imposition of large protected areas, control of non-indigenous tainably, scale up renewable energy production, consider environ - species and establishment of captive breeding programs all mental and social costs in national and corporate undertakings have helped to reduce extinctions. and foster equitable access to food, water and energy. Species will always go extinct, and new species will contin - But first and foremost, humanity must recognize that we ue to come into being. Chances are, in the long run, the his - have a serious problem: We’re running up a major ecological torical trend toward ever increasing biodiversity will continue debt that is putting the health of our planet (and eventually us) through the coming millennia. in jeopno ardy. Let’s deal with it now before the debt gets worse.
www.globalresearcher.com Nov. 6, 2012 513 VANISHING BIODIVERSITY
Continued from p. 512 Despite these efforts, however, de - habitat for many large mammals, while The conservationist group Sav - forestation in the Amazon Basin con - illegal hunting remains a problem across ingSpecies, which Pimm chairs, has tinues, albeit more slowly, and has much of the region. 56 worked to connect and protect frag - reached more than 17 percent of the Tigers, for example, have lost 93 per - mented habitats in the coastal forests original forest. Even if current conser - cent of their natural range. Their pop - of northeastern Brazil, in an effort to vation efforts are successful, it is ex - ulation has fallen to between 3,200 save the endangered golden lion tamarin, pected to hit 20 percent by 2020. 53 and 3,500 in the wild. 57 Despite con - a primate that went extinct in the wild Other ecosystems in South and servation efforts, poachers continue to before being reintroduced in its habi - Central America also continue to suf - kill tigers for their bones, which are tat, beginning in the mid-1980s. fer losses. Populations of tropical made into “tiger bone wine” used in Pimm says the project, which pur - freshwater fish, both in Latin Ameri - traditional Chinese medicine. Rhinoc - chased 31 square miles of largely un - can and other equatorial regions, have eroses are killed for their horns, be - productive grazing land, illustrates declined by 74 percent since 1970, pri - lieved to have medicinal value. how relatively small investments (in marily due to habitat loss and frag - “The increasing wealth of China this case, about $300,000) can provide mentation. 54 Amphibian species also and Vietnam is driving demand for big returns. The group bought — and are down in numbers worldwide but more tiger bone,” says WWF’s Loucks. allowed to return to their natural state are at the greatest risk of extinction “Rhino horn, per kilo, is more ex - — parcels of land that bridged the in Latin America and the Caribbean, pensive than gold and cocaine, so it’s gaps between surviving areas of habi - according to Global Biodiversity Out - attracting organized crime into the tat, providing a much larger range for look 3. 55 field (in both Asia and Africa). The situation is pretty bad.” Krithi Karanth, a conservation biolo - gist with the Centre for Wildlife Studies in Bangalore, India, has studied wild an - imal populations and their interactions with rural Indians. She says the frag - mentation of habitat is causing difficul - ties for a variety of large mammals in l
u the region. Although India has set aside k a s
g about 5 percent of its land as nature n
o parks, many are too small and isolated w i t t i from other habitat, Karanth has found. K
i
a Still, she sees attitudes on the sub - h c
n continent evolving. “For the first time r o P
/ in history there’s a large Indian middle s e
g class,” Karanth says, and with that a m
I more affluent population, has come
y t
t increasing attention to conservation. e G
/ “There’s a lot of public support in P F
A India for animals like tigers and ele - Endangered tigers are protected at a Buddhist temple in Kanchanaburi province in Thailand, phants. At least in the southern part one of 13 countries hosting fragile tiger populations. The animals are highly prized by of the country, you’ve seen a recov - international wildlife smugglers. Wild tiger populations have been decimated in recent decades, in part because their bones are sought by practitioners of ery of the tiger population.” traditional Chinese medicine. The world tiger population is estimated to She believes Indian culture pro - have fallen to only 3,200 from about 100,000 a century ago. vides hope. “Despite having a billion people, we still have a lot of wildlife the animals to live in. “The simplest Asia and India — Tigers, Asian left, and part of this is because in India things you can do is buy small frag - elephants, Indian rhinoceroses — some there is a large amount of what we ments of land and then reconnect of the most well-known threatened call cultural tolerance,” she says. “I’ve them,” Pimm says. “By reconnecting species on the planet — live in Asia talked to thousands of villagers and the land, we can have a dispropor - and India. Rapidly growing human asked them why, if they have an agri - tionate impact on biodiversity.” populations have reduced the natural cultural loss (because of wild animals)
514 CQ Global Researcher they haven’t reported it, and the an - struction materials and fuel, this strip - benefits large commercial fishermen at swers are, ‘It’s their land, too,” or ‘It’s ping of the forests is likely to contin - the expense of sports fishing. The U.S. part of the natural process.’ ” ue around Africa’s major cities. House of Representatives voted last May Iraq provides a surprising bright spot North America and Europe — to deny federal funds to expand the for habitat recovery in Asia. Under the With established wildlife reserves, con - program. The two Republican lawmak - regime of Saddam Hussein, 90 percent servation laws and active environmental ers behind the bill, Florida’s Rep. Steve of the country’s Mesopotamian marshes movements, the industrialized coun - Southerland and Rep. Michael Grimm were drained. Since 2003, however, much tries have not faced the same degree of New York, declared the system was of the drainage has been dismantled and of biodiversity loss in recent years as part of federal efforts “to destroy every by 2006 nearly 60 percent of the marsh - those in the less developed world. aspect of American freedom under the es had been flooded again, enabling the The WWF’s “Living Planet Report guise of conservation.” 65 natural vegetation to recover. 58 2012” found that the populations of The bill has not advanced in the Africa — A coalition of conserva - some birds and land and marine mam - Senate. tion groups and scientists conducting mals have increased in the temperate the first continent-wide survey of habi - climate zones, which include North tat for the great African apes recently America and Europe, and that there found that in the past two decades habi - has been an overall increase of bio - OUTLOOK tat has shrunk by more than 50 per - diversity since 1970 in those regions. cent for the Cross River and eastern go - But the industrialized countries can - rillas and 31 percent for western gorillas. not pat themselves too firmly on the Chimpanzee habitat also is disappear - back, says the WWF’s Loucks, because Coming Changes ing across Africa. 59 Deforestation and they did their damage in earlier decades. overhunting threatens the apes. The meat “Prior to 1970, they were much more of gorillas and chimpanzees, called bush impacted,” he says. Also, he adds, f the world is indeed nearing a glob - meat, is a primary source of protein for “There’s naturally much more biodi - Ial biodiversity state shift, as some many rural Africans and is considered versity in the tropics, so there’s more scientists believe, then the natural en - a delicacy in some African cities. to lose.” vironment could start to look very dif - “The situation is very dramatic. Many Despite overall positive trends, areas ferent in as little as 20 years or so. of the ape populations we still find of concern still exist in the North. No one can predict the shape of that today will disappear in the near future,” Since 1980, farmland bird populations new world, except that many of the said Hjalmar Kuehl, a primatologist with have declined in Europe by an aver - plants and animals we know now the Max Planck Institute for Evolution - age of 50 percent, according to the would not be around. ary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, Convention on Biological Diversity. 62 But even some scientists who be - who helped organize the research. 60 Wildflowers, including marigolds, corn - lieve a so-called tipping point is ap - As in Asia, the African human pop - flowers and poppies, also are disap - proaching say it could still be a cen - ulation is growing rapidly, leading to pearing from much of the English coun - tury or more away. Conservation extensive clearing of land for urban tryside, according to conservationists, who biologists and other researchers point growth, agriculture and industry. Forests believe the increased use of agricultur - out, however, that current rates of bio - are losing their trees and biodiversity al herbicides may be responsible. 63 diversity loss will still result in signif - in waves emanating from major cities, The United States witnessed a con - icant changes in life on the planet, according to the World Wildlife Fund. servation success story with the recent whether or not the ecosystem reaches In Tanzania, for example, logging has recovery of most of the nation’s off- a tipping point. advanced 75 miles from the city of Dar shore fisheries, which had been badly If the declines in population of es Salaam in just 14 years, depleting depleted, through a federal program tropical freshwater fish and many im - all high-value timber within 124 miles. that set quotas for total catch based portant ocean species are not reversed, “This first wave of degradation was on scientific assessments. 64 Regional much of the world’s population could followed by a second that removed councils then apportion that quota face a shortfall in one of its impor - medium-value timber, and a third that among commercial fishermen. tant food sources. If agricultural plant consumed the remaining woody bio - Despite the program’s success and and livestock biodiversity continues to mass for charcoal production,” ac - its support by commercial fisherman, be lost, the prospect for a devastating cording to the “Living Planet Report however, it is controversial with recre - disease sweeping through crops, such 2012.” 61 Without alternatives for con - ational fishermen, who feel the program as the strain of wheat rust now hurting
www.globalresearcher.com Nov. 6, 2012 515 VANISHING BIODIVERSITY
farmers in Asia and Africa, grows more Barnosky, of UC-Berkeley and the 6 Bradley J. Cardinale, et al. , “Biodiversity loss likely. primary author of the state shift study, and its impact on humanity,” Nature , June 7, “Unfortunately, I’m not very opti - believes the future depends on bring - 2012, p. 59. mistic regarding the long-term future, ing down the rate of world popula - 7 “Biodiversity Is Life,” United Nations Edu - unless we take drastic measures,” says tion growth. “It’s all too easy to turn cational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Loreau, of the Centre for Biodiversity this into a ‘gloom-and-doom, we’re 2010, p. 3, www.cbd.int/iyb/doc/partners/iyb- unesco-uk-school-pack-en.pdf . Also see Richard Theory and Modelling in France. “We screwed’ story. For me, the key point Knight, “Biodiversity loss: How accur ate are live in a civilization that is based on the is, if we want to make a future for the numbers?” BBC News, April 24, 2012, www. idea that humans are very different from our kids as good as the one we live bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17826898 . everything else and should really dom - in now, there are things we have to 8 Ibid. inate nature, and it leads us to com - recognize are happening and take steps 9 Global Biodiversity Outlook 3 , Secretariat of pletely downplay natural processes and to manage. We’ve got a window of the Convention on Biological Diversity, 2012, the importance of ecosystems. To ad - time here. p. 9, www.cbd.int/gbo3 /. dress the problem we have to recog - “We’re poised right on the cusp,” 10 “Living Planet Report 2012: Biodiversity, nize that humans are part of nature. We he continues. “If we do the right thing, biocapacity and better choices,” World Wildlife have to change our relationship with it’s all going to turn out okay. If we Fund, 2012, p. 12, www.panda.org/about_our_ nature and how much we consume.” don’t, all hell can break loose.” earth/all_publications/living_planet_report /. 11 Ibid. Karanth, of the Centre for Wildlife 12 “List of parties,” Convention on Biological Studies in Bangalore, fears a conflu - Diversity, www.cbd.int/convention/parties/list /. ence of environmental changes. “On Notes 13 Global Biodiversity Outlook 3 , op. cit. , p. 9. the global level, it looks pretty grim,” 14 Ibid. she says, “with climate change being 15 Ibid. , p. 24. the big factor. With huge areas be - 1 “Basic Facts about Sea Otters,” Defenders 16 Ibid. , p. 53. coming warmer, it’s going to be hard of Wildlife, www.defenders.org/sea-otter/basic- 17 Global Biodiversity Outlook 3 video pre - to save much of what’s here.” facts . sentation, Secretariat of the Convention on 2 But others focus on the progress Ibid. Biological Diversity, 2012, www.cbd.int/gbo3 /. 3 18 that has already been made. “Here in Megan Gannon, “Sea Otters May Be Glob - Barnosky, et al. , op. cit. , p. 55. al Warming Warriors,” Live Science , Sept. 7, 19 the U.S., where we have strong laws, Ibid. , p. 54. 2012, www.livescience.com/23030-sea-otters- 20 Ibid. lots of money for recovery and a de - may-be-global-warming-warriors.html . 21 Patrick Moore was an early member and mocratic system that allows citizens to 4 The figure is calculated by converting 8.7 leader of Greenpeace for several years, but hold the government’s feet to the fire, teragrams to tons. The figure is taken from the organization disputes his characterization we can and do save species. So it is the abstract of the study by Chris Wilmers, of his level of involvement. possible for us to turn this around,” et al. , “Do tropic cascades affect the storage 22 A fuller explanation can be found in Em - says Suckling, of the Center for Bio - and flux of atmospheric carbon? An analysis mett Duffy’s “Resurrection of a collapsed ecosys - logical Diversity in Tucson. of sea otters and kelp forests,” Ecological So - tem: Cod rebound in the North Atlantic,” Sea - “It’s going to require a lot of effort ciety of America, www.esajournals.org/doi/abs/ Monster blog, Aug. 15, 2011, http://thesea and a lot of money and, in many 10.1890/110176 . monster.net/2011/08/resurrection-of-a-collapsed- 5 countries, political reform,” he says. Anthony D. Barnosky, et al. , “Approaching ecosystem-cod-rebound-in-north-atlantic /. a state shift in Earth’s biosphere,” Nature , 23 “But we’ve done it in a lot of places.” For background, see Jason McLure, “Geneti - June 7, 2012, p. 52. cally Modified Food,” CQ Researcher , Aug. 31, 2012, pp. 717-740. 24 “Crop biodiversity: use it or lose it,” FAO Media About the Author Center, Food and Agriculture Organization, www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/46803/icod e/. Reed Karaim , a freelance writer in Tucson, Ariz., has written for 25 “Bill Gates backs genetically modified food The Washington Post , U.S. News & World Report , Smithsonian , research,” 2010 World Economic Forum, www. Ame rican Scholar , USA Weekend and other publications. He is the dailymotion.com/video/xggd8o_bill-gates-backs - author of the novel, If Men Were Angels , which was selected for genetically-modified-food-research_news . 26 the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers series. He is “Why we need biodiversity,” International Union for the Conservation of Nature, www.iucn. also the winner of the Robin Goldstein Award for Outstanding org/what/tpas/biodiversity/about/biodiversity /. Regional Reporting and other journalism honors. Karaim is a 27 Ibid. graduate of North Dakota State University in Fargo . 28 For a list of the five extinctions with time of occurrence see “Big Five mass extinction
516 CQ Global Researcher events,” BBC Nature, 2012, www.bbc.co.uk/ nature/extinction_events . 29 Bryan Walsh, “The Next Great Extinction FOR MORE INFORMATION Could Be Coming Sooner Than You Think,” Center for Biological Diversity , P.O. Box 710, Tucson, AZ 85702 ; 520-623-5252 ; Time , March 3, 2011, http://science.time.com/ [email protected] . A leading advocacy organization for protecting bio - 2011/03/03/the-next-great-extinction-could-be- diversity in the United States. coming-sooner-than-you-think /. 30 Richard Stone, “Dinosaurs Living Descen - Conservation International , 2011 Crystal Dr., Suite 500, Arlington, VA 22202 ; dants,” Smithsonian , December 2010, www. 703-341-2400 ; www.conservation.org . Promotes biological research and works with smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/Dinosaurs- national governments and businesses to protect 34 biodiversity hot spots worldwide. Living-Descendants.html. 31 “Big Five mass extinction events,” op. cit. Defenders of Wildlife , 1130 17th St., N.W., Washington, DC 20036 ; 202-682-9400 ; 32 Jennifer Walsh, “New Suspect in ‘Great www.defenders.org . An advocacy group dedicated to the preservation of all wild Dying:’ Massive Prehistoric Coal Explosion,” animals and native plants in their natural communities. , Dec. 20, 2011, www.livescience. Live Science The International Union for Conservation of Nature , UCN Conservation Centre, com/17577-great-dying-coal-eruption.html . Rue Mauverny 28, 1196 Gland, Switzerland ; +41 22 999-0000 ; www.iucn.org . The 33 “Big Five mass extinction events,” op. cit. world’s oldest and largest global environmental organization; maintains the “Red 34 “Mass extinctions” timeline, Discovery.com, List,” which identifies species at risk of extinction. http://dsc.discovery.com/earth/wide-angle/ mass-extinctions-timeline.html . The Nature Conservancy , 4245 North Fairfax Dr., Suite 100, Arlington, VA 35 “Helping Unravel Causes of Ice Age Ex - 22203-1606 ; 703-841-5300 ; www.nature.org . Supports land conservation to protect tinctions,” ScienceDaily , Nov. 2, 2011, www. wildlife habitat in the U.S. and more than 30 nations. sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/11110216 Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity , 413, Saint Jacques St., 1253.htm . 36 Suite 800, Montreal QC, H2Y 1N9, Canada ; +1 514 288-2220 ; www.cbd.int . U.N. Sue College and James Connelly, eds., “The agency charged with supporting the goals of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Origins and Spread of Domestic Plants in Southwest Asia and Europe,” Left Coast Press, World Resources Institute , 10 G St., N.E., Suite 800, Washington, DC 20002 ; June 2007, p. 40, http://books.google.com/ 202-729-7600 ; www.wri.org . Conducts research on ecosystem threats and works books?id=D2nym35k_EcC&pg=PA40#v=onepage with indigenous communities to balance human and wildlife needs. &q&f=false . 37 “Bison,” An Educator’s Guide to the Natur - World Wildlife Fund International , Av. du Mont-Blanc 1196, Gland, Switzerland ; al Resources of South Dakota,” Northern State +41 22 364 91 11 ; wwf.panda.org . Works to protect endangered species around University, www3.northern.edu/natsource/ the world and publishes the omnibus “Living Planet” reports. MAMMALS/Bison1.htm . 38 Patrick Moore, Confessions of a Greenpeace be running out of fish,” BBC.com, Sept. 21, 55 Global Biodiversity Outlook 3 , op. cit. , p. 26. Dropout: The Making of a Sensible Environ - 2012, www.bbc.com/future/story/20120920-are- 56 For background, see Robert Kiener, “Wildlife mentalist (2010), Location 6895, Kindle edi - we-running-out-of-fish . Smuggling,” CQ Global Researcher , Oct. 1, tion. 47 “Living Planet Report 2012,” op. cit. , p.13. 2010, pp. 235-262. 39 Ibid. 48 Global Biodiversity Outlook 3 , op. cit. , p. 48. 57 “Living Planet Report 2012,” op. cit. , p. 27. 40 Kieran Mulvaney, The Whaling Season: An 49 Gaia Vince, “How the world’s oceans could 58 Global Biodiversity Outlook 3 , op. cit. , p. 42. Inside Account of The Struggle to Stop Com - be running out of fish,” BBC News, Sept. 21, 59 Matt Walker, “Great ape habitat in Africa mercial Whaling (2003), p. 115. For back - 2012, www.bbc.com/future/story/20120920-are- has dramatically declined,” BBC Nature, Sept. ground, see Marc Leepson, “Whaling: End of we-running-out-of-fish/1 . 28, 2012, www.bbc.co.uk/nature/19731343 . an Era,” Editorial Research Reports , 1985, vol. II; 50 Global Biodiversity Outlook 3 , video, op. 60 Ibid. available at CQ Researcher Plus Archive. cit. Also see Doug Struck, “Disappearing Forests,” 61 “Living Planet Report,” op. cit. , p. 78. 41 For background see, Mary H. Cooper, “En - CQ Global Researcher , Jan. 18, 2011, pp. 27-52. 62 Global Biodiversity Outlook 3 , op. cit. , p. 24. dangered Species Act,” CQ Researcher , June 3, 51 David Braun, “Brazil beefs up protection 63 Emily Beament, “Arable plant species dis - 2005 (Updated Sept. 22, 2010), pp. 493-516. of Atlantic rain forest,” National Geographic , appearing,” The Independent , Aug. 1, 2012, www. 42 “Table 1: Numbers of threatened species June 14, 2010, http://newswatch.nationalgeo independent.co.uk/environment/nature/arable- by major groups of organisms (1996-2012),” graphic.com/2010/06/14/brazil_adds_parks_in_ plant-species-disappearing-7998249.html . IUCN “Red List,” www.iucnredlist.org/documents/ atlantic_forest /. 64 “Plenty more fish in the sea,” The Econo - summarystatistics/2012_1_RL_Stats_Table_1.pdf . 52 “Norway donates $1 billion to Brazilian mist , May 26, 2012, www.economist.com/node/ 43 Global Biodiversity Outlook 3 , op. cit. , p. 9. rainforest fund,” Norway.org, www.norway. 21555960 . 44 Ibid. , p. 47. Also see “Living Planet Report org/ARCHIVE/policy/environment/regnskogen_ 65 “The Grand Old Party and the Sea,” The New 2012,” op. cit. , p. 93. i_brasil_en /. York Times , May 16, 2012, www.nytimes.com/ 45 Global Biodiversity Outlook 3 , op. cit. , p. 11. 53 Global Biodiversity Outlook 3 , op. cit. , p. 33. 2012/05/17/opinion/the-grand-old-party-and- 46 Gaia Vince, “How the world’s oceans could 54 Ibid. , video. the-sea.html .
www.globalresearcher.com Nov. 6, 2012 517 Bibliography Selected Sources
Books Knight , Richard , “Biodiversity loss: How accurate are the numbers?” BBC News , April 24, 2012 , www.bbc.co. Moore , Patrick , Confessions of a Greenpeace Dropout: uk/news/magazine-17826898 . The Making of a Sensible Environmentalist , Beatty Some experts say researchers are significantly overestimat - Street Publishing , 2010 . ing the numbers of species being lost around the world. A founder of Greenpeace, who broke with the organiza - tion when he felt its positions became too extreme, con - Lomborg , Bjorn , “Research Is The Way Ahead for Pre - tends there is no real evidence that biodiversity is threat - serving Biodiversity,” Forbes India , Sept. 25, 2012 , http:// ened by mass extinctions today. forbesindia.com/article/environment-special/research-is- the-way-ahead-for-preserving-biodiversity/33120/1 . Shiva , Vandana , Monocultures of the Mind: Perspectives A Copenhagen Business School professor who is a frequent on Biodiversity and Biotechnology , Zed Books , 1993 . critic of modern environmentalism says scientists should focus In a seminal work on biodiversity loss, a leading critic of mono - on boosting agricultural productivity on existing lands to save culture agriculture and biotechnology examines their impacts on biodiversity elsewhere. biodiversity and indigenous farmers in the developing world. Siebert , Charles , “Food Ark,” National Geographic , July Wilson , Edward O. , The Diversity of Life , W.W. Norton , 2011 , http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/07/food- 1999 . ark/siebert-text . A renowned Harvard biologist and outspoken proponent Siebert discusses global efforts to protect biodiversity, in - of maintaining biodiversity updates his landmark work on cluding establishing a “doomsday vault” of seeds. the topic, with a forward examining the status of Earth’s bio - diversity at the dawn of the 21st century. Studies and Reports
Articles Global Biodiversity Outlook 3 , Secretariat of the Con - vention on Biodiversity , 2010 , www.cbd.int/gbo3 /. Barnosky , Anthony D. , et al. , “Approaching a state shift This comprehensive report on the state of global biodiver - in Earth’s biosphere,” Nature , June 2012 , www.nature. sity is issued periodically by the U.N. agency charged with com/nature/journal/v486/n7401/full/nature11018.html . supporting the goals of the Convention on Biodiversity. A professor of integrative biology and his collaborators be - lieve biodiversity loss could be leading to a tipping point in “The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species,” International which Earth’s ecosystems change rapidly and significantly. Union for the Conservation of Nature , 2012 , www.iucn redlist.org . Cardinal , Bradley J. , et al. , “Biodiversity loss and its im - An online, searchable database developed by an international pact on humanity,” Nature , June 2012 , www.nature.com/ conservation organization provides updated information on en - nature/journal/v486/n7401/full/nature11148.html . dangered species of plants and animals around the world. A University of Michigan professor and other scientists re - view the latest research on how biodiversity loss will alter Grooten , Monique , et al. , “Living Planet Report 2012: ecosystems and their ability to provide for humans. Biodiversity, biocapacity and better choices,” World Wildlife Fund International and the Global Footprint Chestney , Nina , “Chance of saving most coral reefs is Network , 2012 , wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/all_publi dwindling — study,” Reuters , Sept. 16, 2012 , www. cations/living_planet_report /. reuters.com/article/2012/09/16/coral-climate-idUSL5E8K A leading wildlife conservation organization and an inter - E4HE20120916 . national think tank devoted to sustainability assess declining About 70 percent of the world’s coral reefs will suffer se - global biodiversity and what can be done about it. rious harm by 2030 due to climate change, according to re - searchers in Canada and Australia. Suckling , Kieran , et al. , “Extinction and the Endangered Species Act,” Center for Biological Diversity , May 1, 2004 , Gaia , Vince , “How the world’s oceans could be running www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/PROGRAMS/policy/ out of fish,” BBC Future , Sept. 21, 2012 , www.bbc.com/ ESA/eesa.pdf . future/story/20120920-are-we-running-out-of-fish . A U.S. conservation group finds that the Endangered Species Studies indicate that humans could be depleting the world’s Act has been largely successful. ocean fisheries to such an extent that future generations will not be able to catch fish from the oceans.
518 CQ Global Researcher The Next Step: Additional Articles from Current Periodicals
Disappearing Bees ronment until they might be needed in the event of a mas - sive loss of agricultural biodiversity. Richards , Linda , “Going Organic Affects Bees and Butter - flies,” Redlands (Calif.) Daily Facts , Aug. 27, 2012 , www. Threats redlandsdailyfacts.com/news/ci_21410046/going-organic - affects-bees-and-butterflies . “41% of Country’s Forest Cover Has Suffered Degrada - Organic farming benefits the preservation of bees because tion,” Economic Times (India), Feb. 11, 2012 , articles. it requires less pesticide spraying, according to The Soil As - timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-02-10/the-good-earth/ sociation in England. 31045785_1_biodiversity-loss-biological-diversity-act-species . More than 40 percent of India’s forest cover has been de - Walters , Tiara , “Be Nice or They Buzz Off,” Sunday Times graded to some degree, says the former head of the Indi - (South Africa), May 20, 2012 , www.timeslive.co.za/sun an Space Research organization. daytimes/2012/05/19/be-nice-or-they-buzz-off . Experts say efforts should be made to stem the disap - Connor , Steve , “Amphibians Face Raised Extinction Threat,” pearance of bees because they are arguably the most cru - The Independent (England), Nov. 17, 2011 , p. 24 , www. cial ecological driver on Earth because of the billions of independent.co.uk/environment/nature/amphibians-face- flowers they pollinate. raised-extinction-threat-6263377.html . Many of the world’s amphibians could die out faster than Monoculture and Invasive Species expected, according to a study from Copenhagen University.
Gray , Lisa , “The War Against the Plants,” The Houston Esong , Liengu Etaka , “Biodiversity Conservation Plan Chronicle , Oct. 23, 2011 , p. 1 , www.chron.com/life/gray/ Under Review,” Cameroon Tribune , Aug. 26, 2012 , all article/Gray-The-war-against-the-plants-2228834.php . africa.com/stories/201208271069.html . Chinese tallow trees — an invasive species in southeast Cameroon’s government is addressing new and emerging Houston — are growing so fast they leave little space for challenges to biodiversity in its new National Biodiversity other plants and animals. Strategy and Action Plan.
Griffin , Mary , “Mission to Save Brownfield Sites So Pre - Jacobs , Clemencia , “Region Most Affected by Climate cious to Our Wildlife,” Coventry (England) Telegraph , Change,” Namibia Economist , April 2012 , allafrica. Oct. 16, 2012 , p. 12 . com/stories/201204290073.html . Critics of modern agriculture say agricultural monocultures Sub-Saharan Africa is not the biggest culprit when it comes threaten biodiversity. to pollution, but it is the most affected by climate change, partly because of the loss of biodiversity, says South Africa’s Seed Banks deputy minister of science and technology.
“SAARC Seed Bank Finalized: Mijarul,” Bangladesh Gov - CITING CQ G LOBAL RESEARCHER ernment News , Nov. 9, 2011 . Sample formats for citing these reports in a bibliography The foreign secretaries of eight South Asian nations have agreed to develop a common seed bank to boost agricul - include the ones listed below. Preferred styles and formats ture production in the region. vary, so please check with your instructor or professor.
Foderaro , Lisa W. , “Local Seeds: Not for Food, But for MLA STYLE Future,” The New York Times , Oct. 23, 2011 , p. MB1 , Flamini, Roland. “Nuclear Proliferation.” CQ Global Re - www.nytimes.com/2011/10/23/nyregion/new-york-city- searcher 1 Apr. 2007: 1-24. native-plant-centers-seed-is-for-the-future.html?_r=0 . England’s Millennium Seed Bank is saving seeds collected APA S TYLE from 10 percent of the world’s plant species for posterity. Flamini, R. (2007, April 1). Nuclear proliferation. CQ Global Thompson , Sylvia , “From Gathering Apple Seeds to Pro - Researcher , 1, 1-24. tecting Global Biodiversity,” Irish Times , Aug. 10, 2012 , CHICAGO STYLE p. 14 , www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2012/ 0810/1224321880112.html . Flamini, Roland. “Nuclear Proliferation.” CQ Global Researcher , Ireland’s president opened the country’s new seed bank, April 1, 2007, 1-24. in which seeds will be stored in a climate-controlled envi -
www.globalresearcher.com Nov. 6, 2012 519 Voices From Abroad:
ERACH BHARUCHA DIANE KLAIMI financially material or relevant achieved a lot in nature con - to annual financial reporting.” servation, but it’s more than Director, Bharati Program Officer just about saving iconic Western Mail (Wales) Vidyapeeth Institute of U.N. Environment Pro - species. . . . A lot more has January 2012 Environment Education gramme, Regional Office to be done to conserve and ensure sustainable, equitable and Research West Asia, Bahrain ABSALOM SHIGWEDHA use of nature’s goods and India Environmental journalist services. Diversity in nature Accelerated loss Namibia is the key, whether it is di - A multi-pronged strategy “The Gulf region is under versity of biota in the soils, “Planning a strategy for pressure from urban growth genetic diversity or diversity More than just wildlife biodiversity conservation and development, and they within ecosystems.” “Biodiversity is not just must also include breeding are drivers of biodiversity loss. about wildlife or wild places. New Zealand Herald of endangered species. . . . Biodiversity loss has reached It includes the crops that we November 2010 Preserving corridors between 1,000 times more than it used eat, the insects that pollinate protected areas to facilitate to be 50 years ago; we are them and the bacteria that movement of animals is cru - trying to bring these figures CATHERINE NAMUGALA create soil that sustains cial to maintain wildlife to policymakers and the Minister of Tourism business sector and see how farming.” population. Identifying eco - Environment and logically sensitive areas they can implement biodi - New Era (Namibia) around parks and sanctuar - versity conservation.” December 2011 Natural Resources ies to form buffers is nec - Gulf Daily News (Bahrain) Zambia essary to protect animals in - May 2011 IAN SPELLERBERG side the protected areas and Professor of Nature Con - Tourism depends on it reduce conflict with local NAOKI ADACHI “Without natural resources, people’s needs.” servation, Lincoln University it would be very difficult to President, Response Economic Times (India) New Zealand attract tourists. We also need April 2012 Ability (an environmental to balance the ecological, eco - consulting firm), Japan More to do nomical, ethical and scientif - SALIHU DAHIRU “New Zealand is seen as ic roles in the country. In A wise business decision a world leader in nature con - short, we all depend on bio - Head, United Nations “Until recently, most servation — but let’s not for - logical diversity.” Initiative on Reducing companies considered their get that nature conservation Times of Zambia, October 2010 Emissions from businesses and biodiversity is not a luxury. It is the most separate issues. But now they fundamental of all the pil - * A charity that promotes corpo - Deforestation and realize that without healthy lars of sustainability. We have rate social responsibility. Forest Degradation biodiversity, they cannot Nigeria maintain their businesses.” Japan Times, October 2010 y e
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tional investments [in biodi - i v versity] must be fairly shared Deputy Director, Business a D / r between those countries in the Community,* Wales e c n
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