Download Ppt On Wildlife Conservation
Garcia Miller
We find the best entrepreneurial organizations and invite them to receive in-depth, ongoing support by joining our Network of Conservation Partners. We provide our Partners with the financial resources, tools, and services they need to effectively protect wildlife. Conservationists in our Network work within local communities to find solutions that address the needs of both wildlife and people.
We establish Wildlife Funds when we see a need and an opportunity to protect threatened wildlife across a larger landscape. By providing specific, short-term funding to projects from institutions big and small, we harness the power of multiple organizations working to save a species throughout its entire habitat. 100% of donations to WCN'S Wildlife Funds go directly to the field, with zero overhead.
Conservation thrives when local conservationists have the support they need to protect wildlife. We invest in these brave women and men to strengthen their skills, build their organizations, and advance their careers in conservation. Through scholarships and grants, we provide support to the local people who are shaping conservation in their home countries, ensuring we have a greater and more sustainable impact for wildlife.
Wildlife conservation refers to the practice of protecting wild species and their habitats in order to maintain healthy wildlife species or populations and to restore, protect or enhance natural ecosystems. Major threats to wildlife include habitat destruction, degradation, fragmentation, overexploitation, poaching, pollution, climate change, and the illegal wildlife trade. The IUCN estimates that 42,100 species of the ones assessed are at risk for extinction.[1] Expanding to all existing species, a 2019 UN report on biodiversity put this estimate even higher at a million species. It is also being acknowledged that an increasing number of ecosystems on Earth containing endangered species are disappearing. To address these issues, there have been both national and international governmental efforts to preserve Earth's wildlife. Prominent conservation agreements include the 1973 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).[2][3] There are also numerous nongovernmental organizations (NGO's) dedicated to conservation such as the Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund, the Wild Animal Health Fund and Conservation International.
Habitat destruction decreases the number of places where wildlife can live in. Habitat fragmentation breaks up a continuous tract of habitat, often dividing large wildlife populations into several smaller ones.[4] Human-caused habitat loss and fragmentation are primary drivers of species declines and extinctions. Key examples of human-induced habitat loss include deforestation, agricultural expansion, and urbanization. Habitat destruction and fragmentation can increase the vulnerability of wildlife populations by reducing the space and resources available to them and by increasing the likelihood of conflict with humans. Moreover, destruction and fragmentation create smaller habitats. Smaller habitats support smaller populations, and smaller populations are more likely to go extinct.[5]The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a significant shift in human behavior, resulting in mandatory and voluntary limitations on movement. As a result, people have started utilizing green spaces more frequently, which were previously habitats for wildlife. Unfortunately, this increased human activity has caused destruction to the natural habitat of various species. [6]
Deforestation is the clearing and cutting down forests on purpose. Deforestation is a cause of human-induced habitat action destruction, by cutting down habitats of different species in the process of removing trees. Deforestation is often done for several reasons, often for either agricultural purposes or for logging, which is the obtainment of timber and wood for use in construction or fuel.[7] Deforestation causes many threats to wildlife as it not only causes habitat destruction for the many animals that survive in forests, as more than 80% of the world's species live in forests but also leads to further climate change.[8] Deforestation is a main concern in the tropical forests of the world. Tropical forests, like the Amazon, are home to the most biodiversity out of any other biome, making deforestation there an even more prevalent issue, especially in populated areas, as in these areas deforestation leads to habitat destruction and the endangerment of many species in one area.[9] Some policies have been enacted to attempt to stop deforestation in different parts of the world, like the Wilderness Act of 1964 which designated specific areas wilderness to be protected.[10]
Poaching for illegal wildlife trading is a major threat to certain species, particularly endangered ones whose status makes them economically valuable.[13] Such species include many large mammals like African elephants, tigers, and rhinoceros (traded for their tusks, skins, and horns respectively).[13][14] Less well-known targets of poaching include the harvest of protected plants and animals for souvenirs, food, skins, pets, and more.[15] Poaching causes already small populations to decline even further as hunters tend to target threatened and endangered species because of their rarity and large profits.[15]
A wide range of pollutants negatively impact wildlife health. For some pollutants, simple exposure is enough to do damage (e.g. pesticides). For others, its through inhaling (e.g. air pollutants) or ingesting it (e.g. toxic metals). Pollutants affect different species in different ways so a pollutant that is bad for one might not affect another.
Humans are responsible for present-day climate change currently changing Earth's environmental conditions. It is related to some of the aforementioned threats to wildlife like habitat destruction and pollution. Rising temperatures, melting ice sheets, changes in precipitation patterns, severe droughts, more frequent heat waves, storm intensification, ocean acidification, and rising sea levels are some of the effects of climate change.[26] Phenomena like droughts, wildfires, heatwaves, intense storms, ocean acidification, and rising sea levels, directly lead to habitat destruction. For example, longer dry seasons, warmer springs, and dry soil has been observed to increase the length of wildfire season in forests, shrublands and grasslands. Increased severity and longevity of wildfires can completely wipe out entire ecosystems, causing them to take decades to fully recover. Wildfires are a prime example of the direct negative effect climate change has on wildlife and ecosystems.[27] Meanwhile, a warming climate, fluctuating precipitation, and changing weather patterns will impact species ranges. Overall, the effects of climate change increase stress on ecosystems, and species unable to cope with the rapidly changing conditions will go extinct.[28] While modern climate change is caused by humans, past climate change events occurred naturally and have led to extinctions.[29]
The illegal wildlife trade is the illegal trading of plants and wildlife. This illegal trading is worth an estimate of 7-23 billion[30] and an annual trade of around 100 million plants and animals.[31] In 2021 it was found that this trade has caused a 60% decline in species abundance, and 80% for endangered species.[31]
Due to the fittest animals in the species being hunted or poached, the less fit organisms will mate, causing less fitness in the generations to come. In addition to species fitness being lowered and therefore endangering species, the illegal wildlife trade has ecological costs. Sex-ratio balances may be tipped or reproduction rates are slowed, which can be detrimental to vulnerable species. The recovery of these populations may take longer due to the reproduction rates being slower.[33]
The wildlife trade also causes issues for natural resources that people use in their everyday lives. Ecotourism is how some people bring in money to their homes, and with depleting the wildlife, this may be a factor in taking away jobs.[33]
Illegal wildlife trade has also become normalized through various social media outlets. There are TikTok accounts that have gone viral for their depiction of exotic pets, such as various monkey and bird species. These accounts show a cute and fun side of owning exotic pets, therefore indirectly encouraging illegal wildlife trade. On March 30th, 2021, TikTik joined the Coalition to End Wildlife Trafficking Online. They, along with other big social media companies work to protect species from illegal, harmful trade online.[34][35] Research has shown that machine learning can filter through social media posts to identify indications of illegal wildlife trade. This filtration system is able to search for keywords, pictures, and phrases that indicate illegal wildlife trade, and report it.[36]
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