Can biodiversity really be conserved?
Prof Dr Ahmad Kamruzzaman Majumder and Zareen Tarique :
Biodiversity is the building block of our planet Earth. It was demonstrated in The Global Report that human activities are 75 per cent responsible in the loss of biodiversity for terrestrial ecosystems. The question here is how and if we can make amends. Well, there is no feasible way of execution here. Whichever path we look at, behavioural and habitual changes are necessary in order to conserve biodiversity and it isn’t going to be comfortable. As a starter, The UN General Assembly has officially proclaimed May 22 as World Biodiversity Day since the year 2000. Like every year, the day has been given a designated theme this year too. This year’s one has been decided to be “From Agreement to Action: Build Back Action.” What we can deduct from this is, as much as the declaration of this day was a much-needed step, the more crucial course of action is to implement.
The primary cause of biodiversity loss due to species endangerment has been loss of habitat for an extensive time period now. Humans are evidently the top standing candidate for being responsible for habitat loss. Human activities include urbanization, agriculture, rapid growth of human population, resource extraction, deforestation, emission of pollutants, etc. These man-made sources of habitat destruction leading to eventual extinction are voluntarily performed on a frequent and regular basis without any guilt. This is why raising awareness regarding the issue is so crucial.
Being one of the prime factors to habitat loss, agriculture requires massive land areas to feed the world’s growing population. To get a hold of this landmass, it often requires clearing out of forests and grasslands, reformation and filling up of waterbodies, levelling hills and valley areas, etc. Due to this, the uncountable animal species that belong there are at a loss of proper living conditions. Clearing out of forests and grasslands not only results in a shortage of food for many of them, but also hampers activities like camouflaging, systematic hunting practices, taking shelter, mating and nurturing of offspring. Damaging and filling up of waterbodies banish a huge number of marine species at one blow. This also causes plain land species that feed on these fishes and insects to lose a source of food supply.
Bangladesh’s Royal Bengal Tigers are a pride of the nation’s culture and heritage. The protection and conservation of this specie is necessary to us in order to maintain a balance in biodiversity and wellbeing of the nature. But unfortunately, there are only 106 individuals of this valuable specie in Bangladesh as per the 2015 tiger census. Their survival depends on a handful number of other species that are equally as significant in the forest areas of Bangladesh. The unfortunate picture of the present displays how shortage of food and proper living conditions are affecting the specie. Due to lack of food, the tigers often wander away to localities, where they are slaughtered by humans when found. The ones remaining in the forests are rather weak and scarce in population compared to land area that is designated to them. The Rampal Power Station at Bagerhat district is a significant example of a human activity for sake of development that destroyed habitat for numerous rainforest species including the mentionable Royal Bengal Tiger in the Sundarbans. Such projects continue to pose serious threats to animal lives.
Pollution is unquestionably interrelated to all other causes of biodiversity loss. Pollutants released into the atmosphere get into the animals’ respiratory system. Harmful pollutants like lead, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, sulphur oxides and particulate matters get into their system causing serious affects to their health. Marine animals and birds face choking hazards from plastics and other hard pollutant objects that are disposed off into the waterbodies. Among these, ingestible sizes get into their stomach, it cannot be digested, so ends up storing in there and slow poison them over time. Other larger ones are responsible for choking them. Nonetheless, hard objects polluting the water will cause mass death of species in these ecosystems. Industrial chemical wastes and oil spills are released both into the air and water, leading up to mass trauma to a wide range of bird and marine species.
In order to partake effectively in the act of protecting biodiversity, we need to first know and learn about the species and the ones at risk in our own regions. Awareness needs to be spread among the people about the importance of different species for environment and how the survival of all living organisms, including human beings, depends on the well being of each other. Organizations must continue hosting seminars and awareness raising programs and ensure coverage over media so that it keeps reaching a greater population. Forests can be conserved by setting by legal restrains against deforestation and wildlife visits. Guards and forest authorities should make sure that tourist and wild animal interactions should be silent and harmless, without any direct contact or feeding opportunities. Visitor footprints per day should be limited, littering and waste disposal should be controlled and brought to a minimum.
It has been over two decades of working to conserve these fading species, and we hope to go on for a lot more. As it is evident that humans are at the root of most causes, only we have the ability to prevent further exploitation and conserve what has already been harmed. We are both directly and indirectly dependant on the species present and at danger around us. So if not just for their sake, we need to stand hand in hand to protect them for our own sake, to protect the land we have settled on.
(Authors are affiliated with Teaching and Research at the Center for Atmospheric Pollution Studies (CAPS), Department of Environmental Sciences, Stamford University Bangladesh).
