Saturday 10 September 2011

Animal species threatened with extinction - Dinosaurs of a new era

Biodiversity or biological diversity is the overall diversity of living organisms that inhabit our planet, as well as the diversity of their functions. For overall survival, it is extremely important to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, which is seriously threatened in recent decades.

It is estimated that the Earth resides between 5 and 80 million plant and animal species, some of which are known and described only about 1.5 million. According to the UN a year disappear over 34,000 species become extinct and many even before they are classified as endangered on the list. The biggest threat to flora and fauna is a general pollution of the planet, destruction of habitat, poor access to land, the commercial exploitation: the uncontrolled picking and gathering fruits, poaching, trade in animals, the latter is a business that delivers up to eight billion dollars a year. According to some estimates, every four mammal species threatened with extinction and the extinction of plants and 50 percent. Many biologists believe that we are in the midst of the greatest extinction episode since the disappearance of dinosaurs 65 million years ago. For the last four decades of the 20th century in developing countries has been destroyed more than 40 percent of wild land, and more than 20 percent of tropical forest disappeared. At the same time has drained more than 50 percent wetlands, and sedimentation due to unsustainable use and one-third of coral reefs there is a danger to become extinct in the next 30 years.

"Globally, the best known mechanism of monitoring of individual species is the Red List of Threatened Species of the World Conservation Union (IUCN), which contains information about the status of many species on the planet, following the trends of populations, provides estimates of recording and extinct species. The data are extremely troubling, "says Dusko Dimović from the Institute for Nature Conservation and adds:" However, the protection of biodiversity in recent decades has experienced remarkable progress and is today a very dynamic area. One of the turning point was the summit in Rio de Janeiro 1992nd when for the first time defined the principles of sustainable development, the adoption of the Declaration on Environment and Development and the adoption of the Convention on Biological Diversity and Climate Change. Today is a central theme in the consideration of human dependence on biodiversity wealth of wildlife on the planet and understanding the impact that the loss of biodiversity can have on the future of the human race. "

The fundamental question is, says our interviewee, is the quality of life on the planet can sustain and develop the same speed and in an environment highly degraded natural relationships. The role of the business sector is now recognized as crucial, because the driving force of most human activities and has many implications for the environment in which we live. "The exploitation of natural resources and nature conservation and biodiversity are essentially two competing processes, but, although it may sound paradoxical, in common is just that they are both a consequence of the need for the survival of humanity," said Aleksandar Mijovic from the Agency for Environmental Protection. "The concept of sustainable development implies the rational use of components of biological diversity for further development of civilization, but in the manner and extent of biodiversity does not cause distortion, while maintaining its potential to the needs and aspirations of present and future generations, as indicated in the Convention on Biological Diversity United Nations."

It is estimated that in our country there are more than 5200 plant species, about a thousand species of vertebrates and invertebrates, tens of thousands, which is why Serbia is one of six European centers and one of 158 centers of the world's biodiversity. The special advantage of biodiversity in Serbia is the presence of numerous endemic species (those that live only in the territory, and nowhere else in the world). According to Mijovic, in our country lives over 1,600 species designated as species of international importance. "Based on the methodology of the European Agency for the Protection of the environment, our agency has established an indicator of the situation in Serbia, which shows that the biodiversity here is still quite well preserved in comparison with other European countries. The highest degree of vulnerability was reported in forest ecosystems and especially of vulnerable ecosystems such as wetlands and high mountainous habitats, saline, and šumostepe steppe ".

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