...Biodiversity Biodiversity is important in ecosystems because every life form works together in order for them to function. When these ecosystems are disrupted or altered, or even lacks biodiversity, it poses major threats to all the life forms in it, whether it happens quickly or over a long period of time. When we lack biodiversity, our ecosystems become unstable, which in turn makes them more vulnerable to disasters and they cannot contribute to our well being. Although policy makers may be faced with challenges, many considerations need to be taken into account to preserve biodiversity and to protect these areas so that these ecosystems can function properly and prosper. When we hear the word ‘biodiversity’, it pretty much explains itself. It is the amount of variation of life forms within a given biome, ecosystem, species, or even the entire plant. Many considerations need to be taken into account to preserve biodiversity and to protect these areas so that these ecosystems can function properly and prosper. With respect to the ecosystem and biodiversity, we need to remember that once our natural resources run out and when most ecosystems are destroyed, it is very hard to restore it to what it was. We need to consider our well being, as well as all the other organisms that we share the earth with. We use biodiversity all the time, whether it is direct or indirect. In order for us to live happy and healthy, we need a healthy ecosystem and it is our job to preserve it as much...
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...NEWS FEATURE Vol 460|16 NATURE|Vol 460|23 July 2009 RAGAMUFFIN EARTH A small group of ecologists is looking beyond the pristine to study the scrubby, feral and untended. Emma Marris learns to appreciate ‘novel ecosystems’. J oe Mascaro, a PhD student in a T-shirt and floral print shorts, is soaking in the diversity of the Hawaiian jungle. Above, a green canopy blocks out most of the sky. Aerial roots wend their way down past tropical trunks, tree ferns and moss-covered prop roots to an understorey of ferns and seedlings. The jungle is lush, humid and thick with mosquitoes. It is also as cosmopolitan as London’s Heathrow airport. This forest on Big Island features mango trees from India (Mangifera indica); Cecropia obtusifolia, a tree with huge star-shaped leaves from Mexico, Central America and Colombia; rose apples (Syzygium jambos) from southeast Asia; tasty strawberry guava (Psidium cattleianum) from the threatened Atlantic coast of Brazil; and a smattering of Queensland maples (Flindersia brayleyana) from Australia. It also has candlenuts (Aleurites moluccana), a species that humans have moved around so much that its origins have become obscure. There is at least some native Hawaiian representation in the form of hala, or screwpine (Pandanus 450 tectorius), which is pictured on the crest of Punahou School, where US President Barack Obama studied. There are no Hawaiian birds here though. Mascaro sees plenty of feral pigs, descendants of those brought by settlers...
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...ENVIRONMENT: CASES FROM SOUTH ASIA ECONOMIC VALUATION OF THE MANGROVE ECOSYSTEM ALONG THE KARACHI COASTAL AREAS Samina Khalil Applied Economics Research Institute, Karachi January, 1999 This paper is forthcoming in Joy E. Hecht, ed., The Economic Value of the Environment: Cases from South Asia, to be published by IUCN in 1999. This paper is copyrighted by IUCN/US. It may be reproduced in whole or in part and in any form for educational or non-profit uses, without special permission from the copyright holder, provided acknowledgement of the source is made. All four papers in the forthcoming volume are available on the web at http://www.iucnus.org/publications.html. ECONOMIC VALUATION OF THE MANGROVE ECOSYSTEM ALONG THE KARACHI COASTAL AREAS Samina Khalil Applied Economics Research Institute, Karachi ABSTRACT The mangroves of the Indus River Delta in the Karachi, Pakistan coastal areas provide a wealth of goods and services to people who live and work among them. However, these products are not sold in established markets, so their economic importance goes unrecognized. As a result, the expansion of regional industry, agriculture, and population are permitted to threaten the sustainability of the mangrove ecosystems. This study describes the broad array of goods and services provided by the mangroves, and uses market data to estimate the economic value of a few of them. It then argues for the importance of more thorough mangrove valuation studies as a crucial...
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...may say it is just merely a number of species within an ecosystem. However this is not the case, as majority aspects of our lives solely depend on biodiversity. Water, food and air are produced directly by different species and the quality of these resources depend on other species activities. According to the convention of biological diversity "Biological diversity means the variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems” The important question however, is can we put a value on biodiversity? The total value in many ways is infinite. Earth’s economies “would grind to a halt, without the services of ecological life-support systems” (Costanza et al 97). According to Freeman. (1998) to understand the true value of something, one must first define what that thing is and what the world would possibly be like without that particular entity. The following essay will review the methods available to assign value to biodiversity. This will be done in terms of its ecosystem services,...
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...Environmental Studies For Undergraduate Courses Erach Bharucha Textbook for Environmental Studies For Undergraduate Courses of all Branches of Higher Education Erach Bharucha for University Grants Commission Natural Resources i Preliminary Pages.p65 1 4/9/2004, 5:06 PM Credits Principal author and editor – Erach Bharucha Unit 1 – Erach Bharucha Unit 2 – Erach Bharucha, Behafrid Patel Unit 3 – Erach Bharucha Unit 4 – Erach Bharucha Unit 5 – Shamita Kumar Unit 6 – Erach Bharucha, Shalini Nair, Behafrid Patel Unit 7 – Erach Bharucha, Shalini Nair, Behafrid Patel Unit 8 – Erach Bharucha, Shambhvi Joshi Case Studies – Prasanna Kolte Co-ordination and compilation – Behafrid Patel Textbook Design – Narendra Kulkarni (Mudra), Sushma Durve Manuscript review and editing – Chinmaya Dunster, Behafrid Patel Artists – Sushma Durve and Anagha Deshpande CD ROM – Jaya Rai and Prasanna Kolte © Copyright Text – Erach Bharucha/ UGC, 2004. Photographs – Erach Bharucha Drawings – Bharati Vidyapeeth Institute of Environment Education and Research All rights reserved. Distributed by University Grants Commission, New Delhi. 2004. ii Environmental Studies for Undergraduate Courses Preliminary Pages.p65 2 4/9/2004, 5:06 PM Vision The importance of Environmental Studies cannot be disputed. The need for sustainable development is a key to the future of mankind. The degradation of our environment is linked to continuing problems of pollution, loss...
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...does not comply with ecological concepts, attitudes and value, how can you call eco-tourism? It destroyed the environment, exploited the nature. Conservation is not only focus on the profits but also need the economic interests for long-term development. First of all, there is the destruction of ecosystem. The eco-tourism industry, which is growing rapidly, has emerged as one of the most important sectors of the international tourism industry, making up 7 percent of the world tourism market. In the Asia-Pacific region alone, eco-tour operators report growth rates of 10 percent to 25 percent a year. Demand for quality eco-tourism destinations will continue to grow as urban congestion, pollution, crowding, and concern for the natural environment all increase. (Jonathan Nash, April 2001). That means when the industry was growing quickly, it affected and destroyed the environment and ecosystem directly. Government focused on the economic development policy and land development. When there are increased a large number of industry, it reflects there must have air pollution to affect the resorts of animals and the quality of the air. In the past 15 years, sea shores, coral reefs, forests, and other environments are affected from pollution by the mass eco-tourism industry.“Almost half of all...
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...Indonesia as a country that is rich with biodiversity. Not only that, the existence of plant and animal in nature will balance the natural ecosystem. Aceh is one of the areas that supply the biodiversity for Indonesia, especially in Seulawah Mountain and Leuser ecosystem. Many environmental problems like human activity occur in those of areas such as deforestation, opening the forest land...
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...Mangroves are economically important coastal wetlands. These ecosystems provide multiple services to coastal communities including, provision of forestry and fishery products such as food, fuel wood, medicines, and wood products (Bandaranayake 1998, Sathirathai and Barbier 2001, Hussain and Badola 2010, Brander et al. 2012). Various types of mangrove resources extraction for both basic subsistence and commercial commodities have been practiced by local people for decades (Sathirathai and Barbier 2001, Glaser 2003). These practices had contributed significantly to the sustainability and resilience of local economies (Hussain and Badola 2010, Uddin et al. 2013). As an illustration, the natural mangroves of Bitharkanika Conservation Area, in East Coast of India, were contributed to nearly 15 % of the total surrounding household income with an estimated use of around US$ 107 households-1 year-1 (Hussain and Badola 2010). Furthermore the Buswang community led replanted mangrove in the Philippine supported local...
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...Natural Resources and Energy Paper A forest is a natural resource needed by the earth, humans, and species. There are three types of forests. The three types include “tropical, temperate, boreal forests” (The forest biome p. 1, 2006). Recently forests occupy about “one-third of Earth’s land area, and account for over two-thirds of the leaf area of land plants, and contain about 70% of carbon present in living things” (The forest biome p. 1, 2006). Forests produce vital oxygen and provide homes for people and wildlife. Forests play a critical role in mitigating climate change. A forest have several management practices for sustainability and conservation. There are several risks and benefits of extracting and using one type of nonrenewable and one type of renewable energy. The growth of human population has affected forest resources in several ways. The affected forests have caused harm to the population of wild species and have majorly impacted agriculture. Impacts associated with agriculture Between 2000 and 2010 about 13 million hectares of forests were lost per year to agriculture and other uses (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2013). Agroecosystems are very different from the ecosystems seen in nature. Unlike natural ecosystems, agroecosystems are large areas that have been planted with a single species or single strain or subspecies. This often makes them more susceptible to disease. Also, the agroecosystems are often planted in simple geometric...
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...Shoshone National Forestry The Shoshone National Forest has resources that influence forest health, the economy, and society. There are many benefits and risk of extracting non-renewable and renewable energy resources from the Shoshone National Forest ecosystem including, fire, wind, diseases, damage to vegetation, corrosion of structural materials and negative health effects on wildlife and human occupancy. As with all National Forests in the U.S. the practice of conservation of resources, ensure a sustainable flow of raw materials and maintain the diversity of plant and animal species on the National Forest System lands. Renewable The benefits of extracting renewable energy sources and alternative resources such as biomass, wood and other plant material, along with the lease options of the Shoshone National forest provide viable solutions that allow for the creation of cleaner energy resource, and wilderness designated zoning areas that enhance land protection and prohibit alterations by man to the ecosystem. Less than 10% percent of the total area is utilized for the land lease. The majority of the forest has been reserved for wildlife, plants, animals and the protection of the habitat. The Shoshone National Forest has about 1,300 documented species of plants. Lower elevations often have brush and grass dominated by vegetation while, other forest areas are dominated by various combinations of species (The HRO Case Studies Series, 2006). Non- Renewable The risk of depleting...
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...beyond just the loss of Ash trees; this loss may cause even more damage in the long run. For example, Riparian forests, which are the transition space between aquatic ecosystems and terrestrial ecosystems, play a vital and distinct role in the ecosystem. A rapid loss of Ash trees from Riparian forest habitats as a result of infestation of Emerald Ash Borers could put these habitats’ important functions at risk (Nisbet). Separately, other native species that have important interactions with the host that is being targeted by the invasive species are in danger. In the case of the Emerald Ash Borer, any species that interacts with the Ash Tree, such as terrestrial arthropod species are in danger (Nisbet). The Emerald Ash Borer’s negative effects on its environment by way of Ash tree consumption include the destruction of crucial Riparian forest habitats, as well as threatening any native species that interact closely with Ash...
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...paramount progressive issues the world is facing in different ways. This tumultuous predicament had been as result of deforestation of forest trees and women and men who are environmentalist and eco-feminist had played many roles in fighting against the patriarchal capitalist from further destruction and advocating protection of the environment and forest reserves. Deforestation is cutting down of trees in the forest areas and within our surroundings which meets human natural needs and provides a dwelling to wild life and other animal species. The study of environmental changes through eco-feminist perspective helps to throw light on the effects of those changes, roles humans played in effecting those changes, gender roles, economic roles in the destruction of our environment through deforestation. According to Catharine Roach article “Love your Mother”, “the eco-feminist book Rape of the wild evokes this latter motif of the fertile but wounded earth by linking the violent treatment of women with violent against animals and the ecosystem (Roach, pg: 26)” this explain the power imbalance that exist in the system where a particular group in position of power sees everything under their control as powerless and an idea of exploitation. This is also the case in the issues of deforestation. Deforestation is deteriorating our environment which in some cases is as a result of increase in human population and it is disturbance as well as encroachment into other species and wild life territory...
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...Mangroves are ever green forests between land and sea, found essentially in the intertidal zone and occupying large tracts along the shallow coasts, estuaries and in the deltas where they are influenced by tides, widely differing conditions of saline and rainfall regimes. The coastline of Pakistan is 1,050 km long and 40-50 km wide shared by the provinces of Sindh (350 km) and Balochistan (700 km). In the Sindh province, mangroves are found in the Indus Delta which occupies approximately 600,000 ha extending from Korangi Creek in the north to Sir Creek in the South. Indus Delta comprises 17 major creeks, numerous minor creeks and extensive mudflats and constitutes 97% of total mangrove forests found in Pakistan. Mangroves of Indus delta are unique in being the largest arid climate mangroves in the world. The survival of these forests is largely associated with perennial freshwater supplies from the River Indus, which flows through the delta before reaching the Arabian Sea. An area of 344,845 ha of the Indus delta has been declared as protected forests and is under the control of Sindh Forest Department. The Indus Delta is believed to have had as many as eight mangrove species in the past. However at present, only four species have been left. Nearly 95% of the mangroves located in the Indus Delta comprise the species Avicennia marina. Very small patches of Ceriops tagal and Aegiceras corniculatum are found near the mouth of the Indus at Keti Bunder. Rizophora mucronata has...
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...of the most diverse ecosystems on the entire planet. A surprising 44% of all Ecuadorian mammal species can be found...
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...when it comes to the story of forest fires is: What exactly is fire? This question can simply be answered that it is a chemical reaction involving fuel, oxygen and heat. The molecules of a combustible substance move around at an ever more rapid pace as the substance heats until it ultimately combusts totally. When this combustion takes place, the chemicals in whatever substance is being heated are broken down and combined with the oxygen present in the air, with the substance acting as the fuel. This combination causes two things to occur, heat and light, which is essentially fire. The intensity of fire is determined by the amount of fuel present, and as the heat increases, so does the rate of its spreading to other fuel sources. The next question to ponder is: What is the cause of forest fires? While the famous “Smokey the Bear” may tell us that only we can stop forest fires, the truth is that the overwhelming majority of forest fires are caused by lightning. There are other natural causes that can spark forest fires as well. Falling rocks can cause small sparks to be created, which in turn can light piles of dried out kindling such as twigs. Superheated lava from volcanoes can also engulf nearby forests, as can the superheated air caused by an eruption. However, as we all know humans can also cause forest fires. Sometimes these fires are started by accident, and sometimes on purpose. There is a myriad of different fuels that allow a forest fire to burn. The typical fuels...
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