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Watching the Numbers and Charting the Losses - of Species
From this morning's New York Times
Editorial Observer
Watching the Numbers and Charting the Losses - of Species
By VERLYN KLINKENBORG
Published: October 15, 2008
Like everyone, I have been reading the graphs and looking at the numbers
that measure the convulsions in the global financial markets. And as I
do, I
keep hearing the echo of another frightening set of numbers - the ones
that
gauge the precipitous declines in the species that surround us. The
financial markets will eventually come back, but not the species we are
squandering.
Last week in Barcelona, Spain, the International Union for the
Conservation
of Nature released results of a global survey of mammal populations. It
concluded that at least a quarter of mammal species are headed toward
extinction in the near future. Don't think of this as an
across-the-board
culling of mammals, of everything from elephants to the minutest of
shrews.
The first ones to go will be the big ones. And among the big ones, the
first
to go will be primates, which are already grievously threatened. Nearly
80
percent of the primate species in southern and southeastern Asia are
immediately threatened.
The causes are almost all directly related to human activity, including,
for
marine mammals, the growing threat of ocean acidification, as the oceans
absorb the carbon dioxide we emit.
The numbers are not much better for other categories of life. At least
22
percent of reptile species are at risk of extinction. Perhaps 40 percent
of
North American freshwater fish are threatened. In Europe, 45 percent of
the
most common bird species are rapidly declining in numbers, and so are
the
most common bird species in North America. Similar losses are expected
among
plants. What is especially worrying is how much the rate of decline has
increased over the past half-century as the human population has
increased.
These numbers are shocking in their own right. But they don't begin to
tell
the whole story. These are projections for the most familiar, best
studied,
most easily counted plants and animals, which, all told, make up less
than 4
percent of the species on Earth. It is only reasonable to assume that
many,
if not most, of the legions of uncounted species are doing as poorly.
What complicates matters further is a simple lesson we might also draw
from
the present financial crisis: everything is connected. No species goes
down
on its own, not without affecting the larger biological community. We
emerged, as a species, from the very biodiversity we are destroying. At
times it seems as though the human experiment is to see how many species
we
can do without. As experiments go, it is morally untenable and will end
badly for us.
The good news here is the same good news as always - the resilience of
nature. Given even the slightest chance, declining species often find a
way
to recover. But the bad news is also the same bad news - human
irresponsibility. In our myopic pursuits, we characteristically overlook
the
possibility of giving species the chance to recover.
We are watching a global, international effort to stabilize the
financial
markets. It will take a similar effort to begin to slow the rate at
which
species are declining. The bottom line is that what is good for
biodiversity
is also good for humanity. This includes protecting habitat and finding
ways
to reduce human pressure on other species. It also includes a concerted
effort to slow climate change, which, unchecked, could have a
devastating
impact on the entire planet.
What we need, really, is a new ability to think selfishly in a slightly
different way. Instead of saving the Sumatran orangutan or the Iberian
lynx
for itself, it may make more sense to think of saving them for ourselves
-
not as resources to be harvested somewhere down the road or even as
repositories of genetic difference, but as essential elements in the
biological complexity from which we arose and in which we thrive.
Without them, we are diminished.
Editorial Observer
Watching the Numbers and Charting the Losses - of Species
By VERLYN KLINKENBORG
Published: October 15, 2008
Like everyone, I have been reading the graphs and looking at the numbers
that measure the convulsions in the global financial markets. And as I
do, I
keep hearing the echo of another frightening set of numbers - the ones
that
gauge the precipitous declines in the species that surround us. The
financial markets will eventually come back, but not the species we are
squandering.
Last week in Barcelona, Spain, the International Union for the
Conservation
of Nature released results of a global survey of mammal populations. It
concluded that at least a quarter of mammal species are headed toward
extinction in the near future. Don't think of this as an
across-the-board
culling of mammals, of everything from elephants to the minutest of
shrews.
The first ones to go will be the big ones. And among the big ones, the
first
to go will be primates, which are already grievously threatened. Nearly
80
percent of the primate species in southern and southeastern Asia are
immediately threatened.
The causes are almost all directly related to human activity, including,
for
marine mammals, the growing threat of ocean acidification, as the oceans
absorb the carbon dioxide we emit.
The numbers are not much better for other categories of life. At least
22
percent of reptile species are at risk of extinction. Perhaps 40 percent
of
North American freshwater fish are threatened. In Europe, 45 percent of
the
most common bird species are rapidly declining in numbers, and so are
the
most common bird species in North America. Similar losses are expected
among
plants. What is especially worrying is how much the rate of decline has
increased over the past half-century as the human population has
increased.
These numbers are shocking in their own right. But they don't begin to
tell
the whole story. These are projections for the most familiar, best
studied,
most easily counted plants and animals, which, all told, make up less
than 4
percent of the species on Earth. It is only reasonable to assume that
many,
if not most, of the legions of uncounted species are doing as poorly.
What complicates matters further is a simple lesson we might also draw
from
the present financial crisis: everything is connected. No species goes
down
on its own, not without affecting the larger biological community. We
emerged, as a species, from the very biodiversity we are destroying. At
times it seems as though the human experiment is to see how many species
we
can do without. As experiments go, it is morally untenable and will end
badly for us.
The good news here is the same good news as always - the resilience of
nature. Given even the slightest chance, declining species often find a
way
to recover. But the bad news is also the same bad news - human
irresponsibility. In our myopic pursuits, we characteristically overlook
the
possibility of giving species the chance to recover.
We are watching a global, international effort to stabilize the
financial
markets. It will take a similar effort to begin to slow the rate at
which
species are declining. The bottom line is that what is good for
biodiversity
is also good for humanity. This includes protecting habitat and finding
ways
to reduce human pressure on other species. It also includes a concerted
effort to slow climate change, which, unchecked, could have a
devastating
impact on the entire planet.
What we need, really, is a new ability to think selfishly in a slightly
different way. Instead of saving the Sumatran orangutan or the Iberian
lynx
for itself, it may make more sense to think of saving them for ourselves
-
not as resources to be harvested somewhere down the road or even as
repositories of genetic difference, but as essential elements in the
biological complexity from which we arose and in which we thrive.
Without them, we are diminished.
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