![Darwin - The Voyage That Shook the World - BluRay [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51sx5aPkzoL._SL160_SS160_.jpg)
Welcome to Biodiversity Guide
Biodiversity In Land Article
. For a permanent link to this article, or to bookmark it for further reading, click here.
Is Conservation Of Biodiversity The 800-Pound Elephant In Our Living Room?
from:While biodiversity is a hot topic, conservation of biodiversity might easily be considered the 800 pound elephant in the room.
Defining biodiversity is complicated enough: is it just the animal and plant life of a region, or the actual planet supporting them? Does it include or exclude human beings? Can biodiversity and development coexist?
North America is one of the most biologically diverse regions of the world, with ecospheres that vary from deserts to seashores and everything in between. However, North American biological diversity is in great danger. While most of the threats are relegated to one country or another, several of them affect two of the three countries, and their effects and their consequences will potentially affect the entire continent.
The real problem we face, however, is the conservation of biodiversity. While everyone agrees that conserving natural resources is a good idea, there is no consensus on how to go about it. Every group, from governmental agencies to agribusinesses to concerned individuals has their own idea of what conservation of biodiversity means, and what measures should be taken to achieve it. Further, each group has its own agenda to pursue, and may regard some factors of conservation of biodiversity as threats to those agendas.
Part of the problem is that conservation of biodiversity is quite costly. We are just beginning to develop the technologies necessary to preserve biodiversity hotspots, but trying to restore an area to its original state is not only costly, it is often impossible. Further, no one solution fits all hotspots. What is needed in, for example, the Aral Sea region is not necessarily what will work in the Everglades. In the first area, what is needed is reworking the irrigation systems to restore proper salinity of the remaining water, and prevent further seepage due to the composition of the irrigation channels. In the second area, the restoration of the Everglades would require, among other things, reclamation and reflooding of land currently owned privately or by agribusinesses requiring costly and time-consuming negotiations with each of the landowners in question, and, in the case of the agribusinesses, other areas would have to be found to grow their products, lest food shortages arise as a result of the land reclamation.
In other cases, reclamation of the land might include destroying current housing developments or factories, with the collateral losses of jobs in an what might be an economically depressed area.
With so many groups and interests, and the high costs, it is clear that the conservation of biodiversity is a complicated matter. Yet, if it is not resolved during our lifetimes, the problems we leave our descendants will be even more complicated and harder to resolve.
Biodiversity In Land Specific links
Biodiversity In Land News
Step Up Efforts to Protect Biodiversity - Molewa - AllAfrica.com
Step Up Efforts to Protect Biodiversity - Molewa AllAfrica.com Pretoria — Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa has called on all South Africans to step up efforts to protect biodiversity, which supports a massive proportion of the country's livelihood. "Our vast wealth of biodiversity - our ... |
Biodiversity: we must take action now - The Zimbabwean
 UN News Centre | Biodiversity: we must take action now The Zimbabwean International Biodiversity Day is celebrated on May 22 each year to raise awareness and understanding of biodiversity issues. Biodiversity is the term used to describe the variety of life found on Earth and all the natural processes. Life, land ... On biodiversity day, UN chief calls for greater protection of world's oceans Web of Marine Life Dissolving Under Human Onslaught Rapid biodiversity loss continues in absence of political action and accurate ... |
Court Rejects Southern California Mega-development Next to Wildlife Area - Center for Biological Diversity (press release)
Court Rejects Southern California Mega-development Next to Wildlife Area Center for Biological Diversity (press release) “The county should never have approved a new city next to one of California's most important birding areas,” said Jonathan Evans, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity. “Luring tens of thousands of residents to the edge of the ... |
Google Mapping Tool Shows Impacts of Deforestation on Indonesia's Sumatra Island - Spatial News (press release)
Google Mapping Tool Shows Impacts of Deforestation on Indonesia's Sumatra Island Spatial News (press release) The project will make publicly available a huge and ever growing database of the land cover, land use, land users and biodiversity compiled by many experts over decades of work on the ground in Sumatra. The maps highlight Sumatra's extraordinary ... |
WWF: Earth Biodiversity Declining Rapidly - Voice of America
 Voice of America | WWF: Earth Biodiversity Declining Rapidly Voice of America Jim Leape says time is running out for the planet, but it has not yet run out, and there are many actions nations and individuals can take to reverse biodiversity decline. He says some ecosystems must be protected, whether in the water or on land. Report: Consumption of Earth's resources unsustainable World living beyond its resources, summit off-track: WWF Another Earth Needed to Meet Humans' Demand for Resources |