Future?

If intervention is maintained and work continues to go on and make progress as it has been doing then species diversity could again increase, with natural environments throughout the world improving¹. However it is likely that within a few decades many species which are a common sight today could have disappeared from the wild. As the world becomes economically richer it becomes biologically poorer as natural wild habitats are replaced with human settlements or resource areas eg farms². The future of conservation and its success is still unclear and will depend entirely upon investment of time and money and whether or not it is now too little , too late.

1. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jun/02/conservation-crossroads
2. http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/58253/steven-sanderson/the-future-of-conservation

What You Can Do?

There are many things that everyone can personally do to help conservation on a large or small scale. Off course you can donate money to organisations to help with habitat protection, breeding programs or reintroduction programs. Many organisations are also grateful of volunteers to go out and help with projects. However there are many much smaller things that everyone can do to help from home. Helping try and increase species diversity and save endangered species locally is just as important as the more charismatic large scale projects. Planting wild flowers in a garden can help attract wildlife and increase natural species numbers. Planting or looking after only native species is also beneficial as foreign species can sometimes out compete native species if they are introduced. While checking where your food and any products are produced can help as buying more locally produced products will help reduce the demand for habitat destruction to produce large scale farms etc. Reducing energy consumption will also reduce demand on resources and so help protect habitats¹. Small changes at home can make a huge difference to species numbers and their success.

1. http://animals.about.com/od/wildlifeconservation/tp/helping_endangered_species.htm

The Panda Story

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The Panda is probably the most recognisable symbol when it comes to conservation. The Panda is so commonly seen due to its high profile conservation program. The WWF adopted the Panda as its logo as it was the first orginisation to work in China and became heavily involved in conservation of Giant Pandas in the wild. They have managed to increase the number of nature researves and inceased the training of people who work on these reserves. It has remained and ongoing symbol of conservation due to the ongoing help needed¹. However there is some debate as to whether pandas should be helped or just left to face extinction. Many people feel that the program is having such slow and little progress that it is simply draining conservation and government resources and that the time and money could be used to save many other species which are at risk. It is thought it would be better to save many species rather than just a few as this would help maintain biodiversity. And that extinction is still part of nature and some species will have to be sacrificed²

1.      http://www.wwf.org.uk/what_we_do/safeguarding_the_natural_world/wildlife/giant_panda/

2.    http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/sep/23/panda-extinction-chris-packham

Role of the Media



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The media has a huge role to play in conservation, without it many projects wouldn’t have any success. It increases the profile of many projects meaning that public donations are more likely to increase and these are needed to keep the organisations running. The media can also help gain public support which in turn can lead to more government support due to public pressure. It also encourages people to go and visit conservation sites, whether they be national parks in Africa or a zoo or botanic garden in Britain¹. However many believe that the media has a more negative role on conservation. It causes nature to be turned into a tourist attraction and a business, with many protected areas being profited on as they become tourist attractions. The media also only targets high profile species, usually attractive, dangerous or intelligent mammals (charasmatic species) which are easier for people to relate to. This means that many very vulnerable species are forgotten and missed, butterfly shown above. Many species of fish, bird and insect for example are endangered², but as they have less public appeal they are ignored by the media. This can lead to people having an unreal picture as to the scale of the problem as if there are decreasing species at the bottom of an ecosystem or food chain it will have a direct impact later on, for example current decreasing bee numbers which will lead to less pollinated plants and so less habitat and vegetation as a food source³. Publicity can also lead to an increase in conservation problems. An example of this was the Saiga antelope in 1993 which was reduced in numbers by 97% in 10 years due to it being publicised that their horns were similar to that of Rhino. This meant that huge numbers of antelope were killed for their horn but as it prevented Rhino being killed, which were more endangered, there was no media coverage of the dramatic drop in numbers⁴. The media can have both a negative and positive impact of conservation methods, depending upon how it is done and how well controlled it is.

1.       http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10645570801938392

2.       http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0408-hance_fs_archachatinabicarinata.html

3.       http://gofarmer.com/blog/will-the-bee%E2%80%99s-manage-to-pull-through

4.       http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn9963-top-10-conservation-successes-and-failures.html

Success

Conservation projects have varied success. Many projects do fail whether it be due to a lack of funds or government support or simply because intervention has been too little too late¹. However many projects do have at least some success and make some improvements. Attempts are continuously being made to create new national parks or protected areas, which reduces habitat loss. More time and effort is also now being invested in local communities as it has been realised what an important role they play in helping protect species. One example of this success is off course the high profile story of the panda. In 2004 a survey of wild panda numbers showed a 40% increase from the 1980s². This demonstrates that although conservation is a continuous process and work is on going there are effective ways of helping many species.

      1. http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/conservation-projects.html#cr

2.      http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/endangered_species/giant_panda/solutions/pandasuccess/

Who's in Control?



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Large organisations are usually in charge of these parks, or programs. The world wildlife fund (WWF) for example being one of the most well known globally. However there are many more, from other global organisations to smaller region based groups such as the Scottish Wildlife Trust¹, or even smaller groups which try to help one species in particular. These organisations however are often largely funded by public donations and receive very little or no government funding². They usually work with the governments and other organisations to form and carry out a plan over a number of weeks/years to conserve a species or area. This can involve working with the local community to give them a better understanding of the situation and in turn allow them to do most of the work for themselves or it can simply be to carry out population counts and try and create a breeding program in a protected area. Most of this work must first be given the okay by the heads of state, government bodies or region leaders first however, for example the reintroduction of beavers to Scotland³.

1.       http://scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk/

2.       http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/how_we_work/

3.       http://scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk/what-we-do/scottish-beaver-trial/

Methods of Conservation

There are a number of conservation methods which can take place in the species natural habitat or an artificially created habitat.

fig2: http://www.laighdykes.com/images/
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fig1: http://www.urban75.org/blog/images/
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Species can be helped off-site (not in their natural habitat) by being cared for in parks, zoos, gardens etc, such as the botanic gardens or safari parks shown fig1 and fig2. This sometimes involves removing a number of organisms from the wild where they are in a vulnerable position. Once removed they can then be cared for and hopefully reproduce in a safe environment. The species numbers can be built up in an artificial habitat where there are no dangers and there will be a higher survival rate of offspring. This can be more beneficial than other conservation methods as it can mean a more rapid increase in numbers due to the increased human care. Once numbers have built up in captivity many organisations then try and reintroduce organisms back into the wild in safe areas. The captive populations act as a supply. However this method of conservation can be controversial due to the fact that it removes organisms from their natural habitat and due to the increased human contact which many people disapprove of. It is also controversial as it often involves new laboratory methods, such as gene banking (storing the genetic information) of plants which is then sometimes modified to produce a more robust plant, and sperm banks with animals to try and increase diversity. This all leads to much debate about the method.¹

On-site conservation is the other method of conservation. This is more commonly favoured in today’s society as it involves less intervention and impact directly to the species. This can involve a number of methods. It can involve the habitat directly being protected or improved and allowed to naturally recover, which in turn would hopefully lead to an increase in the species numbers. National parks² are a good example of this, fig3. Patrol groups can also help with some of these situations as they prevent any unwanted human interference, eg poachers. Breeding programs and species numbers can also be monitored on site as well however³. This has the added advantage that it means organisms do not require reintroduction to the environment however it is often slightly slower than captive programs as there is a lower survival rate in the wild due to the reduced human intervention.

1.       http://www.publishyourarticles.org/knowledge-hub/essay/essay-on-the-conservation-of-endangered-species.html

2.       http://www.nationalparks.gov.uk/learningabout/whatisanationalpark/aimsandpurposesofnationalparks.htm

3.       http://www.answers.com/topic/national-park

fig3: http://www.thingstodolakedistrict.co.uk/images/uploads/the_lake_district_national_park.jpg