Biodiversity

Emily A. Noble guinep at theriver.com
Fri Apr 28 10:22:18 EDT 2000


Sorry about my hasty message re over-population......it was ill-thought
through but it is an important issue.....here's a better reminder from
Reuter News Service:
 Planet Ark Home pageNational Recycling WeekHumanity threatens 
"biodiversity hotspots" - study
UK: April 28, 2000
LONDON - Checking humanity's unflagging expansion is the only way to 
save the world's "biodiversity hotspots", a U.S. researcher said on 
Wednesday. 
Looking at the connection between population density and the environment 
in 25 key regions and three tropical wildernesses, Robert Engelman of 
Population Action International said a new approach was needed."If you 
go right for the worst case scenario, it's very hard to imagine 
long-term conservation of biodiversity in any of these areas if human 
demands don't eventually reach a plateau," he told Reuters in an 
interview."It clearly signals to conservationists that they should be 
paying attention to population trends and they might even consider 
taking actions that might help slow the growth of the human population."
Nearly a fifth of the world's six billion people live within the most 
species-rich and environmentally threatened areas, Dr Richard Cinotta, 
Engelman and colleagues at the Washington-based research and advocacy 
group wrote in the latest issue of Nature.Beyond being just a 
proliferation of animals and plants, biodiversity is vital for 
everything from sources of medicine and climate regulation to 
pollination and pest-control.Areas of rich biodiversity facing the 
greatest risk include the Western Ghats/Sri Lanka, the Philippines, the 
Caribbean, the Tropical Andes and Madagascar. The majority of the 25 
regions and tropical hotspots straddle the poorer parts of the world.
EDUCATION THE KEYEngelman, Population Action International's vice 
president of research, said there were indications that the population 
growth was slowing.Equal rights to education was a key, he added."One of 
the side benefits of educating girls is they tend not to get pregnant so 
early in life and they tend not to have such large families," Engelman 
said."We're making the further connection there that this will rebound 
to the benefit of tigers and panda bears and plants and insects all over 
the world over the long term."The impetus, Engelman said, must come from 
cooperation between governments, non-governmental organisations and 
international bodies such as the World Bank - much of it through better 
coordination of existing programmes."In addition to doing the work to 
conserve these species, we should all be thinking about the importance 
of policies that end up slowing population growth," he said. "That's 
where the hope for the permanent sustainability of these ecosystems 
lies."  
Story by John O'Callaghan 
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE  
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