The Role Of Humans In Animal Extinction
It is normal for species to become extinct naturally, without the influence of human beings. But over the years, with all the advances in people’s way of life, ecosystems have been altered, and animals with them, which is something that can accelerate the process of extinction in a hurried way. Also extinction causes biodiversity loss, because as the food chains break, species decrease. I chose this topic because I care about the animals and their protection, since they are living beings too, and they have the right to live as we have. Also because I care about nature and I would like to help the environment so we’ll be able to have a good world in the future.
Ecosystem Damage
The damage of the ecosystem is a big problem in today's world, since society, mainly expanding industries, need more and more space and natural resources, what they do is damage ecosystems. Ecosystems are very important, because they produce the oxygen we breathe. In addition, ecosystems provide resources that are useful and necessary for human beings, not only as food, but also as medicine. Ecosystems purify the air, it gives us access to clean drinking water without cost and, finally, pollinate our crops to prevent hunger. Moreover, human beings use the natural resources of ecosystems as tools for their daily lives. Some of the main causes of damage to the ecosystem all around the world come from modern urbanization, and this, pollutes the environment makes bad use of agrochemicals and cut trees. Colombia is a country that is recognized for the variety of its ecosystems. According to Colombia's environmental information system (SIAC), Colombia has 98 types of general ecosystems, 74 correspond to natural ecosystems and 24 to ecosystems transformed. As stated by “El Espectador”, these 98 ecosystems, 19 are in danger and 19 more in critical danger. However, only 16% of them have some protection. Ecosystems in Colombia are a one more victim of the armed conflict that Colombia has been suffering this past 30 years, according to Mary Louise Higgins, director of WWF-Colombia, the former areas occupied by the guerrillas 'can push the limits of sustainability and the bio capacity of the increasingly fragile and deteriorated ecosystems.'
The importance of the ecosystems in Colombia is essential because without them the country's economy would fall, the health of the population would worsen, biodiversity would be reduced in the country and global warming would increase. Globally some of the greatest threats to these ecosystems is the expansion of the livestock frontier, the pollution of air or water, deforestation and use for illicit crops. In the world, human beings, who are the cause of this problem, do not recognize the consequences that the damage of ecosystems entails. The main consequences are famine, because as the environment is damaged and is our food contributor, we begin to die of hunger; Diseases, considering that one of its causes are toxic pollutants, many living beings that live there develop medical diseases, mainly animals; Finally, warming and drying in some areas will reduce agricultural and economic potential and will attack 'ecosystem services,' such as clean water and fertile soil. But we have to solve this before it gets worse, because in the future, ecosystems may no longer exist, and human life as we know it may be at risk. What we can do is to start educating people about this issue because, not everyone knows the consequences it has and the risks it could make, and because it is important to teach people , especially new generations, how to preserve ecosystems with simple actions such as: Avoid throwing garbage into ecosystems, using the necessary water to avoid waste, avoid using disposable products, stop the burning of garbage, and recycle, all these are simple and small actions that can help make a better world. Another possible solution consists on creating some voluntary social groups, where their participants are knowledgeable and specialists about the environment issues, such as biology, environmental and health experts. They will meet every two weeks to carry out some projects that consist on going to ecosystems and explore it. Then they will discuss the possible threats and with that, help to control all adversities that arise and thus be able to help reduce the damage to ecosystems.
Biodiversity Loss
According to Olivier Langland, the executive director of the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund CEPF, (2018), “Biodiversity is life on Earth, and every extinction chips away at it, undermining the stability of the planet.” Biodiversity is the variety of living beings in a natural environment. As Olivier Langland, executive director of CEPF, said, our planet depends on biodiversity. Biodiversity is crucial, since it can first provide a solution to climate change, biodiversity helps develop ecosystems that can help reduce greenhouse gases, thereby reducing climate change; Biodiversity is also a large part of the cultures and religions of some countries, as stated by CEPF, 231 species are usually used as national symbols in 142 countries but more than one-third of those species are threatened; and finally biodiversity is important for poverty reduction because as most of world’s population lives in rural areas and depend on natural resources, as reported by the US mission to international organizations,1.6 billion people in the world depend on forests and non-timber products for their subsistence, and 2.6 billion people depend on fishing for livelihoods. Colombia is a country that has a large biodiversity. According to “El Tiempo” Colombia is the country number 1 more diverse in birds, the number 2 in amphibians, butterflies and fish; the number 3 in reptiles and the number 4 in mammals. Costas,C. of National Geographic stated, ”If Earth’s biodiversity were a country, it could be called Colombia.” But this ranking will to decrease in the future, because the illicit trade in species of fauna and flora in Colombia increased a 40% in 2018 and approximately 3 000 species have been affected by this problematic.
Colombia is very concerned about solving this problem as quickly as possible, as we can see that the current president of Colombia Ivan Duque said, 'The environment will be a crosscutting axis of my government agenda where the priority will be to protect biodiversity from the country.“ Disconsolately, loss of biodiversity is usually generated by human actions such as human overpopulation, since human race increases, natural resources decrease, and with it the species; Urbanization and industrialization, because as cities advance and grow, vital habitat is destroyed and species get endangered; Contamination and climate because smoke, and various gases can stay in the air as pollutants or fall into the ground as acid rain, also, chemical pollutants such as pesticides and herbicides leach into soils and watersheds. And this can affect the health of many species. Biodiversity exists because each species specializes in doing something very appropriate that guarantees that so many species coexist with each other. “Loss of biological diversity due to species extinctions is going to have major impacts on our planet, and we better prepare ourselves to deal with them,” said University of Michigan ecologist Bradley Cardinal. Biodiversity loss leads to a great damage in living beings, such as: The rupture of food chains, that led to the extinction of many species that needed that food chain to survive. Also the extinction of species is a great consequence of the loss of biodiversity; some species help us with water purification, the decomposition of waste, etc. So if we do not stop quickly, this problem will also affect us. What is crucial is to give nature the space it needs, by stopping the cutting of trees and suspending construction on nature while controlling the birth rate to prevent the growth of cities without urban control. Another course of action for stopping biodiversity loss is to collect funds, with a raffle each month, to be able to build a new natural habitat for the animals, while planting more trees and putting several bodies of water, something that can attract several species. And finally what can be done is to volunteer on cleaning up a park, or river near your house, every two weeks or every time you have the opportunity.
I consider that this research project changed my viewpoint about these problems and my way of seeing life. Before, I thought it was a minor problem and that human actions affect ecosystems and species at a lower level, but then with all the research, I realized that human actions are the principal causes of it. In addition, I realized that all species are very important in our life, we cannot live without them because they help us to purify water, to decompose waste and are our provider of food and medicines. Also, I recognize that they are living beings and that they are protected and live. All the studies in the research made me land in the real world and made me identify that this is a current problem, and that if it is not solved already, in the future it will be very late, since the consequences will be alarming, for example, economic losses and extinction.
My sources and evidence are reliable, since most of these are from recognized national and international organizations such as WHO, The IUCN Red list, Defenders of Wildlife etc. On the other hand, the other part of the sources is from nationally recognized newspapers, from Colombia, such as El Espectador and El Heraldo and the articles in those newspapers are written by experts on the subject such as biologists, ecologists and Environmental Engineers. Finally, the other source is a PDF and it is from an institute of economic growth, they are experts about the topic, so that is why it is reliable.
Regarding the previously discussed, we can conclude that humans have a great impact on animal extinction and we do not realize it. Humans, by damaging the environment for their own benefit, damage species and their habitats at the same time. Warming, drying, diseases and economic loss are some consequences of the human impact on nature, but the main consequence of this is extinction. Environmental damage is something that causes extinction rates to increase astronomically. However, if we all work together, we can fix it by stopping the felling of trees, suspending construction in nature, collecting funds to build a new natural habitat for the animals, working as volunteers in the cleaning of bodies of the ecosystems, etc. Small actions, when they multiply by billions of people, the world can be transformed.
