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As the world faces a 1 degree Celsius increase in global warming to 1.5 ° C by 2030, the number of life forms on Earth threatened with extinction increased, the global monitoring of flora and fauna, the International Union for Conservation of the nature (IUCN), said in his report of September 2018.
In his latest red list, IUCN said 26,000 additional species are threatened with extinction today, out of 27%
Of these, 41% are amphibians, 5% are mammals, 34% are conifers, 13% of the birds, 31% of the sharks and manta rays, 33% of the corals and 27% of the selected crustaceans.
IUCN The Red List is the most comprehensive and objective global approach to badessing the extinction risk of plant and animal species that emerged in the 1950s as an index file of species considered to be threatened with extinction.
Over time, the Red Data Books grew and morphed into the Red List to include more species. The philosophy of the program has also been modified to incorporate the status of all species and not limit it to endangered species.
The IUCN Red List, considered the most influential source of information in the world for species conservation, contains information on the conservation of more than 93,500 species of plants, animals and fungi , with the task of bringing the list to 160 000 species 2020.
Global biodiversity hotspots
There are 35 biodiversity hot spots in the world where these endangered living species live. These areas represent 2.3% of the Earth's surface but are home to more than half of the world's endemic plant species
. They are found in the California floristic province, in the Madrean pine oak forests, in Mesoamerica and Central America; Caribbean Islands; Atlantic Forest, Cerrado, Chilean winter pluviometry falls Valdivian forest, Tumbes Choco Magdalena and tropical Andes in South America;
Mediterranean basin in Europe; Cape Floristic Region, East African Coastal Forests, East Afromontane, Guinean Forests of West Africa, Horn of Africa, Madagascar and islands of the Indian Ocean, Maputuland Pondoland Albany, Succulent Karoo in Africa; Mountains of Central Asia; Eastern Himalayas, Nepal, India, Burma, India and Myanmar, Western Ghats and Sri Lanka in South Asia;
Islands of Eastern Melanesia, Philippines, New Zealand, New Caledonia, Polynesia-Micronesia, temperate forests of eastern Australia, southwestern Australia, Sundaland Islands and Nicobar of India, Wallacea, all in Southeast Asia and Asia-Pacific; Japan, mountains of southwest China in East Asia; Caucasus and Irano-Anatolian in East Asia
They are considered hotspots because they are biogeographic regions endowed with an important reservoir of biodiversity but threatened with destruction.
The purpose of biodiversity hotspots is not simply to identify areas that have a high value for biodiversity, but to prioritize conservation expenditures.
The culprits at the origin of the ugly extinction
The worst threat that threatens Biodiversity in the hot spots of the planet is internal – initiated by the citizens, aggressive, relentless, contrary to the 39, ethics up to a point, without God – destruction of the habitat. As if the future mattered little.
The man began abusing most of these natural ecosystems or abusing them. Because of this "unsustainable" use of resources, formerly productive forests and grbadlands have been turned into deserts and uncultivated lands have proliferated around the world.
Mangroves were cleared for firewood and shrimp farming, which resulted in a decrease in critical breeding habitat for marine fish.
Wetlands have have been drained to increase farmland. These changes have serious long-term economic consequences.
The current destruction of vast areas of pristine wilderness, particularly in tropical forests and highly diverse coral reefs, is the greatest threat to biodiversity in the world.
Scientists have estimated that human activities could eliminate about 10 million species by 2050.
There are currently about 1.8 million species of plants and animals. animals, large and microscopic, known to science in the world.
However, the number of species will likely be multiplied by at least 10. Plants and insects, as well as other life forms unknown to science, are continually identified in the world's hotspots . diversity.
Unfortunately, at the current extinction rate, about 25% of the world's species will disappear fairly quickly. This can happen at 10,000 to 20,000 species a year, 1,000 to 10,000 times faster than the expected natural rate!
Human actions could exterminate 25% of the planet's species in the next 20 or 30 years.
Much of this mega spasm of extinction is related to the growth of the human population, industrialization and changes in land use patterns.
Many of these extinctions will occur in so-called "biorich" areas, such as tropical forests, wetlands and coral reefs. The loss of wild habitats due to the rapid growth of the human population and economic development in the short term is one of the major factors in the rapid destruction of biodiversity in the world.
The Philippines, the 18th most threatened center of biodiversity
The Philippines, the second largest city in the world. The archipelago is one of the few countries to be both a hotspot and a country of megadiversity, making it one of the main hotspots of global conservation.
But its unique biodiversity is threatened. With the highest discovery rates in the world with 16 new mammal species discovered in the past 10 years, this endemism may disappear more quickly than the one discovered.
9 250 species of vascular plants, including ginger, begonias, are threatened. gesneriads, orchids, pandans, palms and dipterocarps. Some 150 species of palm trees are on the list of hot spots and 70% of the 1,000 species of orchids found in the country
Of its 530 species of birds, 35% or more of 60 are threatened. These are found in seven hot spots of the endemic area of ?? birds: Mindoro, Luzon, Negros and Panay, Cebu, Mindanao and the eastern Visayas, the Sulu Archipelago and Palawan.
The most well-known endangered bird species is the Philippine Eagle ( Pithecophaga jefferyi, CR ), the second largest eagle in the world.
The Philippine eagle breeds only in primary lowland rainforests. The destruction of habitat has virtually disappeared from the eagle, except in the islands of Luzon, Mindanao and Samar, where the only large tracts of lowland rain forest remain.
The total population of the Philippine eagle is estimated at less than 700 individuals. Captive breeding programs have been largely unsuccessful; Habitat protection is the only hope of survival of the eagle.
Other endemic endangered species are Negros bleeding . heart ( Gallicolumba keayi, CR ), horned Visayan wrinkled ( Aceros waldeni, CR ), scarlet flower peak ( Dicaeum retrocinctum, VU ), Cebu dolphin ( Dicaeum quadricolor, CR ), and Philippine badatoo ( Cacatua haematuropygia, CR ).
With regard to mammals, the tamaraw ( Bubalus mindorensis, CR ), the dwarf buffalo living only on the island of Mindoro, is the most endangered. A century ago, the population was 10,000; today, there are only a few hundred animals left in the wild.
Other mammals are endangered, such as the verrucous pigs of Visayan and the Philippines ( Sus cebifrons, CR and S. philippensis, VU ); the Calamian deer ( Axis calamaniensis, EN ) and the spotted deer of Visayan ( Rusa alfredi, EN ), reduced to a few hundred on the islands of Negros, Masbate and Panay; and the golden-headed fruit bat ( Acerodon jubatus, EN ), which, as the largest bat in the world, has a wingspan of 1.7 m.
In the reptilian world, the freshwater crocodile ([19459012)] Crocodylus mindorensis, CR ) is considered the most endangered crocodilian in the world. Other unique and endangered reptiles include Gray's monitor ( Varanus olivaceus, VU ), the Philippine tortoise ( Heosemys leytensis, CR ) and a newly discovered monitor lizard, Varanus mabitang Only second known monitor species in the world to specialize in fruit nutrition.
Of all the amphibians, 22 are considered endangered, including the Philippine frog ( Barbourula busuangensis, VU ), one of the most primitive frog species in the world.
With regard to freshwater fish, the most endangered is Sardinella tawilis a freshwater sardine found only in Taal Lake. Unfortunately, Lanao Lake, in Mindanao, seems to have become the site of one of the worst extinction disasters: almost all of the lake's endemic fish species are now almost certainly extinct.
Destruction of forests, but mostly decimated RP biodiversity
Forests, the main natural habitat for biodiversity in the Philippines, are rapidly disappearing.
By 2040, there may be no virgin forests, predict many forest experts. Non-believers make fun of this by saying that it's an exaggeration. But the numbers can not be wrong. The effects of deforestation are not the result of the imagination.
The rate of deforestation in the country is among the highest in the world. The worst deforestation occurred between 1990 and 1999, when 750,000 acres of virgin forest were lost.
Today only 1.75 million acres remain in the country's virgin forests.
The loss was incredible. The rate of deforestation during this decade was close to 75,000 acres a year. It also intervened at a time when logging bans were imposed at selected sites in the country.
As a result, floods, erosion and land degradation amount to 100,000 tons of soil per year, loss of species diversity and genetic material, loss of life and property, and loss of life. Aesthetic and recreational losses were the worst.
The government is largely responsible for the fact that, over the years, laws favorable to logging concessions have been adopted and the protection of forests is poorly secured. The negligence of the government has caused the devastation of forests.
Today, much of the remaining forests are still overgrown by loggers.
Philippine forest laws enacted since 1930 did not provide adequate safety provisions for virgin and secondary-growth forests. Forests therefore had virtually no protection. For example, there is only one ranger for 7,500 acres.
But even in this case, many policies and official strategies from the start were flawed.
And many fonts continue to be defective.
Bengwayan holds a Master's degree and a Ph.D. in Development Studies and Environmental Resource Management from University College Dublin, Ireland, a fellow of the European Union. He is currently a member of the Echoing Green Foundation in New York.
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