BIODIVERSITY
INTRODUCTION
Biodiversity can be defined as the efficient and effective implementation of the policies and tasks necessary to preserve the totality of genes, species, and ecosystems of a region. Biodiversity focuses on the careful management of the processes involved in the preservation and protection of various ecosystems in the world ( 1983).
More often than not, geneticists, biologists and ecologists don't really have the same interpretations regarding the concept of biodiversity. As a result, they engage in activities that various schools of sciences typically associate with the concept of biodiversity. These activities include the identification of biodiversity hotspots, connecting biodiversity with evolution as well as its benefits and ecological roles.
However, the concept of biodiversity deals with all operations done within various ecosystems. Activities such as the management of ecosystems, the control of species, logistics and evaluations are often related with biodiversity. A great deal of emphasis lies on the efficiency and effectiveness of processes. Therefore, biodiversity includes the analysis and management of internal processes.
Measurement of Diversity
There is not one available objective measure of biodiversity that can be used, only measures relating to particular purposes or applications. There are three common metrics used to measure species-level biodiversity. These are: (a) Species richness; (b) Simpson index; and (c) Shannon-Wiener index.
Costs of losses in biodiversity
Concerns about the declining water, land and air quality in various ecosystems all over the world have cropped up since the 1960s. These concerns started on pollutants such as heavy metals and other chemical wastes from industries which slowly destroyed the biological structures of these ecosystems. These wastes proved too harmful for both humanity and the health of the wetlands. To counter this major problem, the Clean Water Act (CWA) was established in 1977 in the hopes of restoring and maintaining the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the wetlands particularly in the United States ( 1988).
High non-point source runoff induces significant changes in ecosystems. The color and turbidity of waters become dark and cloudy. There would also be an increase in the presence of organic matter and nutrients as well as suspended sediments in the water. While in the ecosystem, these materials wreak havoc and can seriously degrade the quality of water, land and air for humans and other life forms. Non-point source pollution is difficult to detect and control because its runoff come from different sources. Non-point source pollution is actually one of the most prevalent sources of pollution in the United States ( 1983).
Economic growth and biodiversity preservation
There is no doubt that in order to gain enormous publicity and praise in the industry, there are multinational companies who engage in environmental conservation efforts as part of their strategy to monopolize the entire place. Their efforts to alleviate the worsening environmental conditions in their own capabilities are really good, but the debate lies on whether the price these poor countries have to pay in exchange for the biodiversity preservation programs is fair or not is still on.
Sad to say, but this is the way how economic growth can impact on biodiversity preservation. Most multinational companies nowadays deliberately take advantage of this worsening biodiversity situation as a means to allow the continued growth and expansion of their businesses in underdeveloped countries. The same goes to natural or man-made disasters. Some multinational companies make it a point to see their names on top of the highest donations list, so the public may picture them as a business entity that’s not only profit-oriented, but cares for humanity even in the most trying times as well. No doubt, the extent of the profits these multinational companies obtain from these kind of efforts is varied and always to their advantage.
On the other hand, the underdeveloped countries which are favorite targets of multinational companies for their environmental conservation programs seem to have no choice but to let these multinational companies take advantage of their situation. If not, they will be left starving to death. This may be a clear indication of how worse the environmental situation has gotten over the years. India, Brazil and many other underdeveloped countries will continue to remain under the control of these multinational companies unless the world’s biodiversity crisis is resolved.
Is there a way to stop this situation? Maybe not by a long shot. Nowadays, there seems to be a mutual agreement between the poor countries and these multinational companies regarding the purpose of existence of each other. The poor countries need the multinational companies to get them out of their bad environmental situation. The multinational companies, on the other hand, need poor and environmentally-savaged countries to expand their businesses. A simple give and take relationship, but in reality the poor countries become even poorer and the multinational companies become even richer. Although this is not correct at moralist’s standpoint, the world’s biodiversity situation is simply overpowering and crippling that the situation has gotten into this direction. Perhaps, it is important right now to know how to survive rather than to know what is right.
Cutting on remaining tropical forests
There is no need actually for banning tropical forests to be cut down in developing countries. However, there has to be certain regulations as to which trees can be cut down and which are not. After all, tropical forests are important in the management and preservation of biodiversity because:
a) They constitute the majority of species present in ecosystems;
b) The show a wide range of sensitivity to pollution;
c) They are easy to sample and identify; and
d) Because of their short life cycles and high movement, they provide reliable evidence of improved water, land and air quality after a pollution event.
The traditional way in monitoring the health of ecosystems is by using the tropical forests monitoring approach. In this approach samples from tropical forest ecosystems are collected and further analyzed for possible physical and chemical pollutants. However, this approach is costly and relatively ineffective in some cases. This is because the concentrations of pollutants vary with respect to time and location. Therefore, non-point source pollutants cannot be traced by physical and chemical monitoring alone ( 1993).
Bio-monitoring uses a biological approach towards tropical forest monitoring. It incorporates the use of tropical forest ecosystems and other minute aquatic organisms as basis for detecting pollution. It was the Europeans who first used this approach in the early 1900s to determine the existence of organic pollution in large rivers (. 1991). In the United States, on the other hand, the use of tropical forests as biological indicators became rampant only over the last two decades. Agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) have biologists implements bio-monitoring in ecosystems across the country. Bio-monitoring operates under the basic concept that tropical forests and certain types of stream animals thrive only under certain water quality conditions. So for instance, when a particular ecosystem receives a significant non-point source pollutant, the abundance of tropical forests and other stream animals in that particular ecosystem will definitely change.
Government intervention and international cooperation
In lieu of the present developments in biodiversity preservation, there have been significant visions of learning that evolved. A majority of these learning visions are based on the idea that biodiversity preservation is a social process where government intervention and international cooperation is necessary for its success. The process of biodiversity preservation, then, transforms into an interactive process. The interaction is being verified through the help of the participants in the biodiversity preservation process such as the government officials and the public. In this framework, high quality of biodiversity preservation would mean the continued guidance and support of the active biodiversity preservation process of the public. Obviously, this would call for an intensive and phased guiding strategy.
When in the active pursuit of biodiversity preservation, the interaction of the government with the public forms an integral part towards its success. Collaborative efforts and international cooperation as a method of teaching biodiversity preservation is gradually being used by countries nowadays. Through this approach, the general public can learn from their government leaders through the imitation of their techniques in the biodiversity preservation processes. In the process, the general public is able to obtain the chance to see their own ideas in a different aspect and therefore be able to take alternatives into consideration. The relative effectiveness of this approach is determined with the capability of the public to continuously challenge their pre-acquired knowledge by trying to adapt to the interpretations of their government.
Aside from the public and the government, the different resources of learning belong to a third category of factors of biodiversity preservation. Moreover, biodiversity preservation efforts have shown signs of significant growth over the past years. Consequently, obtaining knowledge becomes more complicated. This is because the transformation of all this information into knowledge requires the public to possess the appropriate reference frameworks. But through international cooperation, governments can certainly help the public transform information regarding biodiversity preservation into valuable knowledge.
SUMMARY
This essay utilized the concept of biodiversity as the model concept to review its present impacts and how governments dealt with critical situations especially in its preservation. From the analysis, key trends in the biodiversity preservation were then identified, how they worked and their effectiveness in dealing with critical situations was ascertained. The paper then moved on to assess the possible costs of losses in biodiversity, during which the internal capabilities of economic growth in relation to biodiversity preservation were determined also. An overall analysis of the performance and effectiveness of government intervention and international cooperation regarding biodiversity preservation efforts was also conducted to assess and compare the capabilities of these strategies with those of others. Gaps in the biodiversity preservation efforts as well as their capabilities were then identified.
Finally, several choices of strategies to improve the biodiversity preservation efforts of countries as effective means in critical situations were recommended and evaluated in terms of appropriateness to the issues reviewed, feasibility in carrying out the options and acceptability within the key stakeholders and decision makers. Several key implementation issues related to managing strategic change were also addressed as well.
CONCLUSION
As a person with knowledge of biodiversity, the author has always brought up to his superiors the viability of strategy formation regarding the analysis of this topic and at times fails to understand the reasons or logic behind certain strategic implementations imposed on it.
By delving into this project paper, the author intended to have better insights into how the concept of biodiversity is thought up, formulated and then imparted down. The author hoped to have an in-depth understanding as to how the concept of biodiversity enabled local communities and ecosystems to compete effectively and profitably in this era of internationalization where competition is extremely intense.
In order to reinforce the learning objectives, two key focal issues were focussed upon i.e. innovation and diversity. Innovation was discussed with regard to the concept of biodiversity where it was renowned for its developmental capabilities to constantly innovate. Diversity came under strategic thinking and formation as the author considered the diverse culture, political climate, economic surroundings, social environment, technological settings, government policies and legal systems in order to better understand the issues being discussed.
REFERENCES
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