Monday, June 15, 2009

Are current conservation efforts enough to save many animals from going extinct?

There are lots of scientists and environmentalists working really hard to protect many animals from going extinct but are these conservation efforts enough? Are we really gonna lose many animals and plants in years to come or will science find the answer on how to protect them from extinction. What is really happening to our planet that so many animals are brought to the brink of extinction? Are we the ones to blame?

The reasons for so many endangered animals in the world are connected with ecological problems of the modern world. World is facing many different ecological problems that are becoming stronger and stronger, and this is what causes decline in population of many animal species. Animals are losing their habitats because we need more and more room for ourselves, and this is what creates huge biodiversity loss in many parts of the world. The other ecological problems play their negative part too; most notably climate change that is giving animals very little time to adapt to changed climate conditions. And there are of course deforestation and pollution, both oh which contribute to endangered animals problem.

Being surrounded with so many different ecological problems makes conservation efforts even more difficult because these ecological problems are becoming stronger and stronger. All hard work can be lost in almost one blink of an eye if something unpredictable happens, and modern ecology is sadly full of negative surprises these days. Take mountain gorilla conservation for instance, mountain gorillas live in area of often military conflicts and one short civil war between government and rebels could wipe out entire population in matter of days.

Still the most difficult challenges remain habitat loss, poaching, and climate change. Habitat loss can happen due to many different reasons but all these reasons have one origin, namely us, the humans. As the world population keeps on growing humans need more space for their houses, farms, industries, and this is leaving animals with very little room, and some species need large areas to survive. Take tigers in India for example, tigers need large areas to hunt their prey, and because of constant habitat loss in India their hunting areas are getting smaller and smaller, which causes frequent conflicts with local population, and results in many deaths on both sides.

Poaching is still very profitable business in many African countries, and in some parts of the Asia, and the more endangered animal is, the better price will be achieved on the black market. This situation has led to many organized poaching gangs that are undermining conservation efforts in many African countries. Poachers really have not much to fear of, governments are often corrupted, there's no political will to stop them, and even if they get caught they often get away with minimal sentences.

The latest big problem that makes conservation efforts difficult is also the climate change. As climate change impact becomes stronger and stronger, it also leaves many animals very little time to adapt. This will eventually lead many species into extinction unless world does something to stop further strengthening of global warming impact.

So what's the conclusion? Lots of environmentalists, scientists, and many other people that care for our planet are doing all they can to protect many animals from extinction. But they can not succeed in this mission unless world starts to clean this tremendous environmental mess that has been created over the years. Unless world starts solving ecological problems current conservation efforts will be insufficient because magnitude of ecological problems is too big factor to be ignored. In order to do so ecology needs to have politics on their side, and this is something that we are yet waiting to happen.

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