Wild animals and plants are disappearing all over the world, and others are in danger of becoming extinct. This is due to a myriad of reasons that depend on anything from human activity to increased global warming. However, conservation efforts around the world have seen many of these being saved from extinction. Celeste Hedequist, a Boston, Massachusetts-based lawyer and environmentalist walks us through why conservation could essentially save the world.
What Is Conservation?
The world survives thanks to air, plants, animals, water, and land. Conservation efforts are put in place to ensure that these elements remain in place for easier habitation by human beings and animals alike. Conservation and preservation aim at protecting nature. Unlike preservation that aims at safeguarding wildlife so that humans can freely use it, conservation ensures that humans can use nature sustainably.
Through conservation, people can continue to log, hunt, or mine at a sustainable rate. This has helped in ensuring nature remains protected throughout many continents. Combined efforts by communities, interested parties such as Celeste Hedequist and her family, and organizations have ensured protected spaces for nature to continue to thrive. Conservation efforts also preserve delicate ecosystems, biodiversity, habitat, as well as flora and fauna which are often rare and endangered.
Types of Conservation
National Parks
National parks are protected areas that the government puts in place to protect flora and fauna. Sometimes, a country has more than one national park in a bid to create more safe spaces for the animals. One great example of a national park working on conservation is the Khaosok National Park in Thailand. The park was established in 1980 and is an impressive 739*2 kilometers. The park is a host to more than 200 species of different plants.
Some of the common ones you might spot include buttress trees, rafflesia, pitcher plants, bananas, bamboo, coconuts, and a lot more. The park is also home to the Cheow Larn Lake and the stunning lime mountains. The park has provided a home for endangered plants, animals, birds, insects, and fish. It is also home to tigers, an endangered animal all over the world. The park is home to a healthy and flourishing rainforest that provides an excellent environment for animals to thrive.
Sanctuaries
Sanctuaries are privately owned areas where people pool resources to provide a safe area for wildlife to thrive. Many sanctuaries are dedicated to wildlife. The conservation areas incorporate the use of the local communities to keep the vision going.
One good way that conservation is at work is the Three Peaks Conservancy working to replenish the flora and fauna of South Africa while still ensuring the locals can benefit from it. The conservation has worked on three major projects, including the Cape Floral Kingdom and the Succulent Karoo. This has brought back diminishing flower species and created fields of green where local communities can graze their livestock.
Reserves
These are sectioned out places where animals, plants, and even human cultures can thrive together. The most common of these are the biosphere reserves. The reserve is divided into the core, buffer, and manipulation zones. The core part comprises a protected area where human activity is prohibited. The buffer zone is open to human activity but only if it involves research and education, while the manipulation area is open to human activity.
Why Is Conservation Important?
It Prevents Extinction
A lot of animals and plants have perished under the hand of human beings and their activities. From overfishing to overlogging and clearing forests, many creatures are at the risk of being erased from the earth. With conservation efforts at hand, there are better chances of these creatures surviving to serve their purpose. Some of the plants that have disappeared over time could have proved useful in many ways, including medicinal ones.
Numerous conservation units are working to help in the production and thereafter release of endangered species. Animals like the Siberian Tiger, the humpback whale, the giant panda, and the southern white rhino are just some of the many animals that have been saved from extinction and are now thriving thanks to the efforts made in conservation. These animals are now thriving.
It Fosters a Human-Wildlife Relationship
For a long time, many people used to think of wildlife as, well, wild. This created animosity for anything not domesticated. Conservation efforts like support from individuals such as Celeste Hedequist have proved that animals and human beings can live side by side and benefit from each other. People in conservation areas can live in their culture and benefit from activities such as tourism.
In some areas, the conservations hire the locals to help management and other jobs such as rangers and drivers. This provides them with some income. Some have school systems that help with education. In areas like the Maasai Mara in Kenya, the Maasai people live inside the park. The community thrives on tourism to sell their beads, and most of them work in camps and hotels around the park.
It Ensures Continuity of Resources
With conservation, people can still use firewood and find timber; they can hunt without finishing animals off, they can farm without affecting plants and animals, and so much more. Plants with medicinal and research potential can be available when needed because they are protected. Natural resources are maintained for use.
Conservation Protects the Earth
In the face of climate change and the effects it comes with, conservation plays a crucial role in helping manage and prevent these effects. A lot of conservation areas in tropical areas include a lot of protected rainforest areas. These forests provide precipitation that enrichens the soils and supports agriculture.
It also helps fight the rising amounts of carbon dioxide in the air to provide fresh air. Conservation also includes room for soil conservation in areas where erosion is common. From the coast to the bush, conservation has offered many ways to fight global warming and its wrecks.
Wrap Up
Conservation efforts, no matter how small, can help more than you can tell. Essentially, small drops make an ocean, and each effort made individually from people like Celeste Hedequist culminates in a safer place for nature to thrive, from our balconies to the forest and savannah.
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