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Biodiversity Of South America Article
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Is Conservation Of Biodiversity The 800-Pound Elephant In Our Living Room?
from:While biodiversity is a hot topic, conservation of biodiversity might easily be considered the 800 pound elephant in the room.
Defining biodiversity is complicated enough: is it just the animal and plant life of a region, or the actual planet supporting them? Does it include or exclude human beings? Can biodiversity and development coexist?
North America is one of the most biologically diverse regions of the world, with ecospheres that vary from deserts to seashores and everything in between. However, North American biological diversity is in great danger. While most of the threats are relegated to one country or another, several of them affect two of the three countries, and their effects and their consequences will potentially affect the entire continent.
The real problem we face, however, is the conservation of biodiversity. While everyone agrees that conserving natural resources is a good idea, there is no consensus on how to go about it. Every group, from governmental agencies to agribusinesses to concerned individuals has their own idea of what conservation of biodiversity means, and what measures should be taken to achieve it. Further, each group has its own agenda to pursue, and may regard some factors of conservation of biodiversity as threats to those agendas.
Part of the problem is that conservation of biodiversity is quite costly. We are just beginning to develop the technologies necessary to preserve biodiversity hotspots, but trying to restore an area to its original state is not only costly, it is often impossible. Further, no one solution fits all hotspots. What is needed in, for example, the Aral Sea region is not necessarily what will work in the Everglades. In the first area, what is needed is reworking the irrigation systems to restore proper salinity of the remaining water, and prevent further seepage due to the composition of the irrigation channels. In the second area, the restoration of the Everglades would require, among other things, reclamation and reflooding of land currently owned privately or by agribusinesses requiring costly and time-consuming negotiations with each of the landowners in question, and, in the case of the agribusinesses, other areas would have to be found to grow their products, lest food shortages arise as a result of the land reclamation.
In other cases, reclamation of the land might include destroying current housing developments or factories, with the collateral losses of jobs in an what might be an economically depressed area.
With so many groups and interests, and the high costs, it is clear that the conservation of biodiversity is a complicated matter. Yet, if it is not resolved during our lifetimes, the problems we leave our descendants will be even more complicated and harder to resolve.
Biodiversity Of South America Specific links
Biodiversity Of South America News
Living Planet Report Details Threats To Earth's Biodiversity - RedOrbit
 msnbc.com | Living Planet Report Details Threats To Earth's Biodiversity RedOrbit Middle income countries, like those in South America, had rates of animal population drop around 25 percent. Wealthy countries, like the US, actually saw a 5 percent increase in their various species population. The Living Planet researchers determined ... In the News: Study reveals devastating declines in tropical species We must look after Earth, there's no planet B |
How Rural America Got Fracked - Mother Jones
 Mother Jones | How Rural America Got Fracked Mother Jones "But did they reintroduce the biodiversity? Did they reintroduce the beauty and the ecology? No." Studies bear out his verdict. "Every year," wrote Mrinal Ghose in the Journal of Scientific and Industrial Research, "large areas are continually becoming ... |
We're putting our foot in it - New Zealand Herald
We're putting our foot in it New Zealand Herald Much of the growth will be in Africa, Asia and Latin America - tropical regions where biodiversity has suffered most as forests are destroyed, land use intensifies and rivers are utilised. In Africa and Asia, a scramble for land is underway, ... |
And the invasive water weed ravages water bodies - New Vision
 New Vision | And the invasive water weed ravages water bodies New Vision Its origin is believed to be South America. The water hyacinth was not reported in Lake Victoria until 1989, although some researchers say the weed had been growing in Africa's waters since the 1870s. There were rumours among the locals that the weed ... |
Reimagining Infrastructure: Part 1 - Metropolis Magazine
 Metropolis Magazine | Reimagining Infrastructure: Part 1 Metropolis Magazine Today, they are all but extinct in 85% of their American historic range. A few wild clusters, a handful of restoration projects, and some oyster farms are all that remain of this once mighty dynasty of invertebrates. The collapse of the oyster ... |