Threatened Wildlife :
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| Threatened Wildlife |
Wildlife is endangered. They are losing not only their habitat but also their life span as the natural habitats of the forests are being invaded by selfish people. Over the past fifty years the human population on Earth has grown exponentially. During the same period the wildlife population declined by more than two-thirds. Some species of wildlife have completely disappeared. Others have reached the point of extinction. In the same way, if wildlife further disappears, the ecological balance will be severely damaged and the situation will not be in danger of becoming a threat to human survival.
The recently released 'Living Planet Index' report on wildlife survival is worrying. The Living Planet Index - 2020 is a collaboration between the World Wildlife Fund International and the Zoological Society of London. It does not take into account all the wildlife that inhabits the globe, but includes 4,000 vertebrate species. Their numbers have dropped by an average of 68 percent since 1974 and by 2016. According to the Living Planet Index, this is due to the expansion of agriculture and deforestation. Marco Lambertini, WWF International's Director-General, believes that the extinction of wildlife, which has survived on Earth for billions of years, should be seen as a change in a blink of an eye.
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| Barbary Lion |
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| Bactrian Camel |
Why This Situation......?
There are many reasons why wildlife numbers have plummeted over the past half-century. During the same period the human population increased beyond rating. Human exchange has grown beyond that. According to WWF International, human ecosystems were small compared to the renewable energy of the earth's natural resources before 1970. So even though people used to use the forest resources, it was not so difficult at that time. Humans are now using natural resources at will one and a half times more than the renewable capacity of the earth's natural resources. Over the past fifty years there has been a significant increase in the conversion of forests and grasslands into agricultural fields by industries that have grown tremendously. In addition, pollution from industry and frequent forest fires are rapidly depleting wildlife. Currently, one-third of the world's land area and one-third of its freshwater resources are used exclusively for food production. If this were the case on land where humans survive, the condition of the oceans would have been much worse. Fish resources in the oceans are consumed 75 percent more than humans should.
Worse situation in some areas:
Wildlife on Earth is disappearing even faster in some areas. The situation is particularly dire in Central and South America. The number of wildlife in these areas has dropped by 94 per cent in the last fifty years. Lambertini warns that such an evolution will certainly have an impact on our world.
The Living Planet Index has recently released a revised version of its report, compiling data from a separate study conducted by 40 NGOs and research institutes around the world. The report was published in the journal Nature. It also outlines the immediate steps that all nations of the world must take to protect wildlife.
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| Heath Hen |
We must respond immediately to this situation. The pace of biodiversity recovery initiated by governments is slow compared to the rate at which biodiversity is being destroyed. No longer must humanity, which has been delayed, pay a heavy price.
David Leaklier, a researcher involved in the Living Planet study, expressed concern that it could take decades to bring biodiversity back to normal.
Hunting and killing:
Rare wildlife is also hunted and killed by poachers. Compared to the past, wildlife hunting for meat has increased significantly in the last fifty years. The Center for International Forestry Research estimates that 60 million tons of wildlife meat are smuggled into the world each year. Wildlife meat worth $ 2 trillion is being exported to other countries from the Amazon rainforest in Brazil alone. Up to 260 tons of wildlife meat can be caught at the Paris airport while being hidden in personal luggage. The rest of the international airports and ports have to imagine the size of the meat arriving.
These already reached extinction:
Many wildlife species have already become extinct due to deforestation, fires, pollution and poaching(hunting). Nearly 500 species of animals and birds have become extinct over the past hundred years. Golden toad, Carolina parakeet, Heath hen, Kangaroo, Tasmanian tiger, Caspian tiger, Caribbean monkey seal, Western black rhino, Barbary lion are extinct.
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| Clouded Leopard |
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| Golden Toad |
Wildlife situation in India:
In the last century, even in our India, some animals have completely disappeared. Among them, large animals such as the leopard, the Indian cheetah, the wild buffalo, the Indian Arok, and the Sumatra rhinoceros have also become extinct. Conditions in India are becoming increasingly dangerous to the survival of wildlife. Although the government enacted the Wildlife Conservation Act in 1972 to protect wildlife, wildlife hunting for meat and animal body parts continues. Although hunting and evacuation are considered criminal offenses by law, poachers disregard them and arbitrarily pose a threat to wildlife. India is one of the biodiversity hotspots. India is home to 6.5 percent of the world's wildlife. India is home to 7.6 per cent of the world's mammals and 12.6 per cent of the bird population. Most of the poachers in India are tigers, rhinos, elephants and star tortoises.
Hunters hunt tigers for skin, claws, nails, and other body parts. There is a huge demand for tiger body parts in Chinese traditional medicine. Elephants are skinned for tusks and rhinos for horns. Demand for this specialty has grown significantly as a result of recent corporate scandals. Star turtles are being bred in some countries due to FENG SHUI beliefs. Usually these are moved to countries alive. In countries such as China, Malaysia and Indonesia, tigers and rhinoceroses are in high demand and are being smuggled.
In the past, hunters used traps and ordinary guns to hunt wild animals. Huge animals in recent times The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has revealed that some veterinarians use sophisticated hunting rifles, as well as narcotics and poisons used to perform surgeries on animals. Indian rhinos were once common in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan. At present their number is less than 2500 and they are rarely seen. Smuggling of animal body parts by poachers in forests in various parts of the country is rampant in the northern Indian states. Buyers in these states buy these from poachers and move them to Nepal and from there to China, Malaysia, Indonesia and other countries in various ways, making huge sums of money. Organizations such as the IUCN warn that if the government does not take more drastic measures to curb poaching, more wildlife will become extinct.
Endangered species:
Animals of 301 species of terrestrial mammals are on the verge of extinction. They are in danger of extinction soon unless immediate steps are taken to protect them. These endangered species include 168 species of monkeys, including lowland gorillas, mandrels, 73 species of hogs, including bactrian camel, 27 species of bats, clouded leopard, 12 species of carnivores including some species of bears, 8 species of pangolin, and kangaroo. The number of 21 species of rats, including 26 species of animals and 21 species of rats, including the alpine woolly rat, has declined significantly over the past fifty years. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, these are now on the verge of extinction. Added these animals to its red list. David McDonald, a professor at the University of Oxford, says deforestation is a significant cause of deforestation, as well as arbitrary poaching. He warns that poaching for meat has been on the rise for more than 50 years and that it would not take long for the wildlife on the red list to disappear completely.
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| Lowland Gorilla |
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| Pangolin |