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Conservation issues

2018-11-01
HERE should theoretically be a limit to the damage that humanity has inflicted on the planet but clearly there is not. According to a recent report by the WWF, involving upwards of 50 scientists from around the globe, man has managed to wipe out some 60pc of mammals, birds and fish in the past 40 years. Experts are now saying that the annihilation of wildlife is an emergency that threatens civilisation itself. To put that in perspective, as per Mike Barrett, executive director of science and conservation at the WWF, `If there was a 60pc decline in the human population, that would be equivalent to emptying North America, South America, Africa, Europe, China and Oceania`.

These are sobering findings. Countries such as Pakistan may not have a huge share in the global decimation of nature, but the fact remains that there are none that are not at least partly responsible. In the case of this country, for example, whether it is the snow leopards in the north or the houbara bustard further down south or any of the wildlife in between, not much has been done to put in place conservationist practices. The laws are there on the books, true, but implementation remains an intractable problem to the cost of wildlife diversity. The reasons run from human encroachment leading to habitat shrinkage, to a lack of management, to a plain dearth of public knowledge and education that recognises the urgency of the need for urgent conservation measures. Even so, given this country`s rich biodiversity, it is a project that is worth taking up. Humanity alone does not occupy the planet,anditis allsorts oflife thatconstitute a variety of ecosystems. While it may be too late to save what has already been lost and that is what the WWF report says there is still time to ring the alarm bells so that further destruction of life on the planet can be halted.