SeaGypsy wrote:From what I see in Asia things are starring to improve, with most countries having at least put laws in place towards animal welfare & habitat preservation. The bigger problem is in enforcement, which is very expensive over large areas, especially when things go over the line into military style operations being required.
I sincerely hope so as this is the region with unfortunately the most lopsided set of pressures working against it. The convergence of the following factors make SW Asia the region with the highest existing levels of extinction:
1) Smallest geological area of all the tropical biodiversity hotspots (compare the size of equatorial Africa or Latin America)
2) Highest level of endemic species due to geographic separation on Archipelago
3) Some of the highest density of human population of the planet
4) Fastest growing economical region of the world with corresponding resource appetite
5) Close to the largest vacuum cleaner the world will ever know (China)
6) Low level of environmental education about preserving the commons
7) Corruption of forestry ministries allowing exploitation of commons unchecked. As Sea Gypsy mentioned, lack of enforcement. Worse actually, those whose job is to enforce are the very ones who often enable poaching.
8 ) European and North American universities had much better success in training and helping corresponding universities in Latin America and Africa set up national biodiversity studies. Today in Colombia and Brazil and Ecuador for example, not mention Costa Rica, local trained ecologists are carrying on the work of identifying and protecting biodiversity hotspots in their countries and setting these aside for preservation. SE Asian countries have very few nationally trained ecologists doing this work.
I want to be hopeful that enough refuge populations of biodiversity will remain to re colonize native ecosystems once the plunder goes into reverse as SE Asia is the area on the planet most under pressure of losing its biodiversity.
What this illustrates once again is that the consequences going forward are not going to be homogeneous. There will be some regions of the world disproportionately affected by human overshoot.
Patiently awaiting the pathogens. Our resiliency resembles an invasive weed. We are the Kudzu Ape
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