Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Biodiverse systems have higher output than monocultures, that is why organic
farming is more beneficial for farmers and the earth than chemical farming.
The increase in yields does not translate into more nutrition. In fact, it is
leading to malnutrition. To get the required amount of nutrition people need to
eat much more food.
The most effective and low-cost strategy for addressing hunger and malnutrition
is through biodiverse organic farming. It enriches the soil and nutrient-rich soils
give us nutrient-rich food.
(2012)
The loss of biodiversity is publicly most evident in the decline and loss of rich
habitats such as the Amazon and the disappearance of increasing numbers of other
creatures with whom we share the planet.
IUCN Red List 2009
The IUCN Red List itself is the world's most comprehensive information source on
the global conservation status of plant and animal species; it is updated annually
and is freely available online at
www.iucnredlist.org.
It is based on contributions
from a large global network of scientific experts who have helped produce an objective
system which assigns all species, except the micro-organisms, to one of eight Red
List Categories according to various criteria relating to population trend, size, structure
and geographic range. It is therefore an invaluable source of scientific data and an
important policy making and campaigning tool.
Rodrigues
et al
. write:
Vulnerability and irreplaceability are two key principles guiding systematic
conservation planning. Vulnerability is the likelihood that biodiversity values in
a site will be lost, and the Red List contributes valuable information that can
be used to measure it. Irreplaceability is the extent to which spatial options for
conservation targets are reduced if the site is lost. Measurement of site
irreplaceability is thus dependent on information about population size, dynamics
and distribution of species, all of which are being collected in increasing detail
to support Red List assessments.
(2006: 74)
One of the IUCN Red List's main purposes is to highlight those species that are
facing a high risk of global extinction. However, it is not just a register of names
and associated threat categories. The real power and usefulness of the Red List is
the rich scientific evidence on species' ecological requirements, information on their
geographic distribution and threats that they offer. It offers some indications as to
how these issues can best be addressed, but it is important to realize that however
full and comprehensive the IUCN data appears, the knowledge it presents is partial
and uncertain. The Red List covers only 2.7 per cent of the world's estimated 1.8
million species it has assessed to date. Given this, it is more than likely that the
number of reported threatened species is far fewer than the actual number at serious
risk of extinction. Even so, by documenting the threatened status of so many species,
the IUCN attempts to fulfil its major two goals: to identify and document those
