Biodiversity and Wildlife Conservation by Prof Morenijkeji & Olayomade
Sustainable wildlife management is an essential tool to conserve certain biodiversity and is vital for maintaining and enhancing ecosystem services
Biodiversity is the variety of life on Earth at all its levels, involving the ecological, evolutionary and cultural processes that sustain life. It does not speak only about endangered species, or organisms on the brink of extinction, it also includes those we know little about, such as microbes, and even those we like the least, such as mosquitoes. The essence of biodiversity should not be underemphasized, as its value spans every aspect of human lives. These include basic needs, such as food, shelter, fuel and medicine, in terms of pollination, seed disposal, climate regulation, water purification, etc.
“Only when life is at its most varied, vigorous and bio-diverse, can we hope to thrive.” Prof. Olajumoke Morenikeji.
Revamp Rave Network held the 5th session of the Second Virtual cohort training programme on climate change on“Biodiversity and Wildlife Conservation” on the 4th of June 2022. The session was taught by Prof. Olajumoke Morenikeji — Chair of Pangolin Conservation Guild Nigeria and Olayomade Adeyemo — Conservationist and Founder of SDG Action Network.
Prof. Olajumoke explained that Biodiversity as a term represents the total variety of all life forms on earth and scientists have estimated that there are around 8.7 million species of plants and animals in existence with only around 1.2 million species been identified and described so far and while earth’s biodiversity is so rich that many species are being threatened with extinction due to human activities, putting the earth’s magnificent biodiversity at risk.
Biodiversity is important, as we need the forests across a third of the land’s surface to lock away carbon and keep the climate stable, and strange plants deep in the jungles are needed to produce medicines. Also, we need millions of pollinators, billions of soil-dwelling organisms and planktons to hasten the production of food. However, our bio-diverse planet is being threatened by unprecedented pressures from land use change, overexploitation, pollution, climate change, and invasive species, which are driven mostly by human activities.
Thus, there has been a significant drop of the population sizes of animals by 68% since 1970, leading to a UN report which revealed that about 1,000,000 flora and fauna species are presently threatened with extinction. For example a decline in biodiversity in the different continents such asNorth America, 33%; Europe and Central Asia, 24%; Asia Pacific, 45%; Latin America and Carribean, 94%; and Africa, 65%.
The culprits behind biodiversity loss with the largest global impact so far includes changes in land and sea use, direct exploitation of organisms, climate change, pollution, invasive alien species, inappropriate fire regimes, poverty, poaching, urban development, road and oil pipeline construction and unsustainable use of natural resources.
Biodiversity conservation is the practice of protecting, preserving, uplifting and scientifically managing the variety of species, habitats, ecosystems, and genetic diversity on the planet. Some of the world’s most treasured animals are being hunted for their body parts, e.g. the rhinoceros, red gorilla, and the pangolins and wildlife is a term used to define undomesticated animal species, has now come to include all animals and plants living in their natural environment undisturbed by man and it’s an integral part of biodiversity and plays an important role in ecological processes such as pollination, seed dispersal and decomposition.
Pangolins are very elusive mammals, solitary, difficult to monitor, and slow to reproduce. They are a natural form of pest control, as a single pangolin can consume millions of insects every year. Yet, they are hunted primarily for their scales, and face the risk of extinction, Prof said.
There are three focus objectives of biodiversity conservation, which are, to preserve the diversity of all species (humans, animals and plants), sustainable utilisation of species and ecosystem, and maintain life-supporting systems.
There are two ways biodiversity can be conserved which include In-situ Conservation which is the conservation of species within their natural habitat. Here, the natural ecosystem is maintained and protected, certain protected areas where in-situ conservation takes place include national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and biosphere reserves and Ex-situ Conservation which involves breeding and maintenance of endangered species in artificial ecosystems such as zoos, nurseries, botanical gardens, gene bank and there is less competition for food, water and space among the organisms.
Olayomade identified the different types of biodiversity including Species Diversity which is observed within a community, Genetic Biodiversity which is basically the variety of species expressed at the genetic level by each individual in a species, Community or Ecosystem diversity which is observed among the ecosystem in a particular region and Taxonomic Diversity which is the genetic relationship that exists between various groups of species.
He stated that “the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat all rely on Biodiversity, but this is in crisis because of human activities.” The benefits of biodiversity are consumptive value (food/drink, fuel, medicine, industrial materials), non-consumptive value (recreation, education, and research, traditional value) and biodiversity support everything in nature that we rely on for our survival including food, clean water, medicine and shelter.
The threats to biodiversity and wildlife are habitat loss and fragmentation, competition from invasive species, pollution, global climate change, desertification, population growth and over-consumption, and unsustainable use of natural resources. The solutions to these threats are conservation, education, tree planting, nature preservation, proper policy making and implementation, and the purchase of sustainable products.
Biodiversity can be preserved and conserved for present and future needs are to switch to the sustainable purchase of eco-friendly appliances, use of energy conserving light bulbs, supporting locations food vendors and protecting wildlife through recycling paper products to mention a few.
Taking care of the world’s Wildlife and Biodiversity is a responsibility for all.”- Olayomade Adeyemo
