Ugly species deserve biodiversity protections, too

[UngulateNerd92]

• Progress on halting biodiversity loss has stalled, and many species are at risk.
• Most biodiversity campaigns focus on well-known, large or beautiful animals and plants.
• Here's why we should care about the unknown, small and ugly ones, too.

Last month, the United Nations Global Biodiversity Outlook announced that no government had met a single target to halt biodiversity loss in the last decade. Deforestation rates are increasing, with an estimated 17% of the Amazon rainforest being lost in the last 50 years. Bee populations are at risk due to human activity and, in the US, honey bee populations declined by 60% between 1947-2008 while in Europe, 12 wild bee species are critically endangered.

Some recovery packages are already acknowledging the role of nature in helping the economy recover from COVID-19. In September, leaders from 77 countries pledged to reverse biodiversity loss by 2030 during the UN Biodiversity Summit and negotiations are ongoing to finalise the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.

For any of these efforts to succeed, we must first expand our understanding of biodiversity.

Ugly species deserve biodiversity protections, too

 

[birdsandbats]

"Wow, I'm so surprised that governments aren't meeting their conservation goals set at a UN summit" said no one ever.

 

[RatioTile]

• Progress on halting biodiversity loss has stalled, and many species are at risk.
• Most biodiversity campaigns focus on well-known, large or beautiful animals and plants.
• Here's why we should care about the unknown, small and ugly ones, too.

Last month, the United Nations Global Biodiversity Outlook announced that no government had met a single target to halt biodiversity loss in the last decade. Deforestation rates are increasing, with an estimated 17% of the Amazon rainforest being lost in the last 50 years. Bee populations are at risk due to human activity and, in the US, honey bee populations declined by 60% between 1947-2008 while in Europe, 12 wild bee species are critically endangered.

Some recovery packages are already acknowledging the role of nature in helping the economy recover from COVID-19. In September, leaders from 77 countries pledged to reverse biodiversity loss by 2030 during the UN Biodiversity Summit and negotiations are ongoing to finalise the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.

For any of these efforts to succeed, we must first expand our understanding of biodiversity.

Ugly species deserve biodiversity protections, too

I dispute the statistic that deforestation rates are increasing, if they mean on a global scale. It appears peak deforestation rates occurred in the 1980s, and the amount of forest lost in the 2010s was lower than the amount of forest lost in the 2000s. Still a horrible problem, but valid progress has been made in many countries.

Also, that article was written 3 years ago.

Deforestation and Forest Loss

 

[UngulateNerd92]

"Wow, I'm so surprised that governments aren't meeting their conservation goals set at a UN summit" said no one ever.

Yeah, well the fact is more often than not they have not met those goals.

 

[UngulateNerd92]

I dispute the statistic that deforestation rates are increasing, if they mean on a global scale. It appears peak deforestation rates occurred in the 1980s, and the amount of forest lost in the 2010s was lower than the amount of forest lost in the 2000s. Still a horrible problem, but valid progress has been made in many countries.

Also, that article was written 3 years ago.

Deforestation and Forest Loss

Though this was an old article, I still felt it was interesting enough to post here. Maybe I should clarify the article's age next time around. I usually have. When this article was written, deforestation was increasing, especially with Jair Bolsonaro as Brazil's president, at least within Brazil (which Brazilian forests do take up a sizeable amount of land space).