Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
species most in need of conservation, and to provide a global index of the state of
change of biodiversity. In doing this, what the IUCN has shown is that the number
of threatened species increases year on year. By 2008, 44,837 had been assessed, of
which around 38 per cent were classified as threatened. Over 800 were classified as
extinct. In addition, there was insufficient data to make a judgement on 5,561
species; so many of these could actually be threatened. Nonetheless, despite the fact
that IUCN data represents just the proverbial tip of the iceberg, the Red List does
help answer a number of important questions, which the organization usefully
identifies as:
•
What is the overall status of biodiversity, and how is it changing over time?
•
How does the status of biodiversity vary between regions, countries and
subnational areas?
•
What is the rate at which biodiversity is being lost?
•
Where is biodiversity being lost most rapidly?
•
What are the main drivers of the decline and loss of biodiversity?
•
What is the effectiveness and impact of conservation activities?
The information the IUCN produces on the distribution and ecological requirements
of species are used in numerous large-scale analyses, which frequently identify gaps
in threatened species coverage by the existing network of conservation or protected
areas such as Important Bird Areas, Key Biodiversity Areas, Important Plant Areas
and Alliance for Zero Extinction sites. This helps with conservation planning, the
identification of conservation priorities and in informing specific species requirements
at particular sites and at a variety of spatial scales and levels, including the global.
It should be remembered that biological diversity includes not just species but also
encompasses ecosystems and genetics. Species that remain are certainly the building
blocks of biodiversity and they are readily comprehensible to both the public and
policy makers. The information the IUCN produces is essential to ensuring that a
good decision-making process can exist, for species play an important role in the
proper functioning of ecosystems and the services they provide.
The political ecology of conservation and development
The IUCN's World Conservation Strategy, published in 1980, was the first mainstream
document that combined development, poverty alleviation and wider environmental
management. It was powerfully informed by the views of wildlife conservationists
within both the WWF and IUCN who believe that conservation and development
are complementary if not integrated goals. Poor communities, particularly in rural
areas, do not always clearly benefit from being developed and it was felt that properly
managed conservation would be better able to meet their needs than what was
predominantly a Western model of modernization based on economic development,
industrialization, free trade and urbanization. However, two models of conservation
emerged. The one following the example of protected wilderness areas or National
Parks in the US became known as 'fortress conservation' and was quite top-down,
while the other was essentially bottom-up and community led (Adams, 2001).
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries iconic figures such as John
Muir and Aldo Leopold argued fervently to protect what they perceived as the pristine
