Protecting the circle of life

Today, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), begins a nine-day Congress on World Conservation in Barcelona, Spain to address the growing threat of mass extinction of animals and plants. Experts are sounding the alarm on a possible mass die-off similar to the first such crisis 65 million years ago, when dinosaurs and a great number and diversity of different land and sea animals disappeared due to climate change triggered by the crashing of an asteroid on earth. Environment experts now are getting nervous that another major extinction of species will occur soon due to the damaging effects of climate change, this time brought about by global warming, together with the loss of natural habitat due to increased human habitation of hinterlands, pollution, hunting, logging and other human activities that destroy the environment. 

Among other major topics, the highlight of the Conference will be the release of the 2008 Red List on Biodiversity, the global standard used for monitoring global conservation under the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. Last year’s edition showed that more than one-third of 41,000 species surveyed are facing extinction, or a quarter of all mammals, one out of eight birds, one out of three amphibians and 70 percent of plants.      

In Asia, more than 70 percent of known species are under threat. Animals and plants species are used as sources of food and traditional medicines. The worst thing is that creatures are driven out from their natural habitats due to increased development of forest land into subdivisions and human dwellings and hunting. This was the reason for the near extinction of the Philippine tarsier in Bohol. Thanks to the diligence of former director of the Parks and Wildlife Bureau of the DENR, Jesus Alvarez, the Philippine tarsier specie is now protected in a 7.4-hectare forest reservation area, nestled within a larger protected forest where about a thousand other Philippine Tarsiers are believed to live, covered by a permanent logging ban.                     

Another threatened specie in the Philippines is the Philippine eagle, our national bird. The IUCN still includes the eagle in the 2007 Red List as Critically Endangered, and this is due to deforestation and poaching. There are currently 800 of these giant birds that remain, thanks to conservation efforts again spearheaded by Mr. Alvarez. The tamaraw, which can only be found on the Mindoro Islands, almost got decimated due to excessive logging, cattle-ranching and hunting. The government’s conservation program in 1979 stabilized the tamaraw population, which now number about 1,000 animals since the conservation program begun.                                                            

There are thousands of endangered species in the Red List. This means that life on earth is in the process of disappearing if urgent action is not taken. In our country, we have to first protect the environment for it is in preserving the natural habitat that we can protect our creatures and plants. Life is a circle and we should do everything not to break it.