ESD

Threats to Biodiversity

Introduction

Definition of Biodiversity:Biodiversity the variety of life in the world or in a particular habitat or ecosystem. It can be categorized into genetic variation, species variation and ecosystem variation.

Importance of Biodiversity:Biodiversity boost ecosystem productivity, a diverse genetic, species or ecosystem can sustain itself healthily. Diverse genetics helps species to recover faster from disease outbreak and prevents extinction. Greater species diversity also ensures the sustainability of all life forms as species depends on each other for food and resources. Humans also benefits from plant’s diversity because plant provides us with crops and medicine. (Annup, 2014) Earth’s Biodiversity Issues:In global scale, we are killing more species of animals faster than nature can replace them, everyday an average of 135 species of life went extinct in our hands. The magnitude of the threat was first quantified in a 2004 Nature study, “Extinction Risk from Climate Change.” This paper suggested that in six diverse regions, 15 to 37 percent of species could be at risk of extinction. If those six regions were typical of the global risk, the study’s authors later calculated, more than one million terrestrial and marine species could face extinction due to human encroachment and climate change, assuming that there’s about an average of 10 million species exist in the world. Whether that will will happen is unknown. But signs of what is to come are already all around us: nearly 100 amphibian species in South America vanishing in a disease outbreak linked to climate change, most of western North American facing massive die-offs of trees because of warming-driven beetle outbreaks, and increasing loss of coral reefs worldwide because of human activities and coral bleaching events driven by rising ocean temperatures. Large part of Earth’s biologically unique areas have already lost more than 70 percent of their high-quality habitat. (Hannah, 2012)

Human activities are a major threat to biodiversity around the world, rapid expansion of cities, deforestation and uncontrolled pollution are all threats to biodiversity.

Malaysia’s Biodiversity Issues:Malaysia’s rainforest biodiversity and tropical ecosystems are exceptionally rich and are exclusive reservoirs of world’s species. According to Greenpeace organization, our country ranked 14th on the list of 17 mega-diverse countries that contains around 70% or more of the planet’s biodiversity. Oil palm plantations are a prevalent feature of the Malaysian landscape, as this industry has become a major contributor to the country’s export earnings. The increase in palm oil production has been driven by strong global demand for oils and fats, notably from Europe and China. However, this expansion of land for oil palm cultivation has taken place at the expense of lowland tropical forests.(WWF, 2001)

Deforestation

1.1 Definition of DeforestationDeforestation is the clearing of trees, particularly forest or jungles, transforming it into a cleared land.

1.2 Importance of Forest in Maintaining BiodiversityForests embody much of Earth’s ecosystem, species and genetic diversity. Genetic diversity is particularly high in many forest tree species, and its loss, though not often noticed, may have far reaching impacts. Species and ecosystem diversity generally increase with temperature and rainfall, and three broad-scale forest zones can be defined on the basis of climatic conditions: tropical, temperate and boreal. Each of these major forest ecosystem types consists of many finer scale ecosystems. Tropical forest hosts fantastic levels of species and ecosystem diversity, Deforestation and forest degradation can cause biodiversity to decline. When forest cover is removed, wildlife is deprived of habitat and becomes more vulnerable to hunting. Considering that about 80% of the world's documented species can be found in tropical rainforests, deforestation puts at risk a majority of the Earth’s biodiversity. (WWF, 2000)

1.3 Deforestation IssuesAccording to United Nation’s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), global tropical deforestation rate during 2000 to 2010 are 8.5% higher in comparison with the 1990s. Currently 12-15 million hectares of forest are lost each year, the equivalent of 36 football fields per minute.

Below is the list of world’s most deforested countries

Source: http://news.mongabay.com/2013/1114-global-forest-map.html

The reason for deforestation in developing countries is to convert forest into croplands and pasture to sustain its population. Deforestation practice removes the original vegetation which is vital to support the biodiversity. Replacing them with domesticated crops and animals significantly degrade the number of species living there. (John and Russell, 1996)

In developed countries such as United States of America and Russia, the forest are

removed mainly for fuel and building materials. In developing countries such as Madagascar and Malaysia, forest are main source of income for the rural farmers and loggers. Exporting of high quality timber provides quick cash for illegal loggers, the more trees are chopped and sell, the more they earn. Government negligence and corruption also play as a major role in controlling deforestation rate, developing or poor countries tend to prioritize economic development rather than environment impact. The lack of awareness among citizens are also a contributing factor to rampant deforestation for selfish purposes.

Global Deforestation Hot spots in year 2012

Source: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment

1.3.1 Local Deforestation Issues

Source: http://news.mongabay.com/2013/1115-worlds-highest-deforestation-rate.html

Source: http://news.mongabay.com/2014/0909

A report commissioned by the Netherlands-based Wetlands International says Malaysia is removing an average two per cent of the rainforest a year on Sarawak, the largest state on the island of Borneo, or nearly 10 per cent over the last five years. The deforestation rate for all of Asia during the same period was 2.8 per cent. "Total deforestation in Sarawak is 3.5 times as much as that for entire Asia, while deforestation of peat swamp forest is 11.7 times as much," the report said. Malaysia's peatland forests are home to several endangered animals, including the Borneo pygmy elephant and the Sumatran rhino, as well as rare timber species and unique vegetation. The main cause for deforestation in Malaysia is establishment of industrial timber and palm oil plantation. Palm oil plantation grew by 50% which is 17000 sq km. (Gaveau et al. 2014)

1.4 Case Study of The Relationship Between Deforestation and Biodiversity Globally and in Malaysia

Case Study 1:Effects of Madagascar’s Rapid Deforestation (Global)

Introduction

Source: http://www.geocases1.co.uk

Madagascar and Malaysia are considered as a megadiversity country, which is country that harbor majority of the Earth's species (Mittermeier. 1997). Much of Madagascar's flora and fauna is endemic, 98% of Madagascar's land mammals, 92% of its reptiles and 68% of its plants does not exist anywhere else.

DeforestationWhen the French colonized Madagascar in 1896, the Malagasy forest have been rapidly depleted. Deforestation occurred due to grazing, fuel wood gathering, economic development, cattle ranching and mining. Madagascar's exploding population spur deforestation activities to get more resources. The growth rate is at 3.03% per year. The growth is damaging the economy and the environment.

The Threats to Tropical RainforestOne of the main threats to Madagascar's biodiversity is deforestation. Its rainforest are being destroyed at a rate of 11 million hectare per year, (or 21 hectare per minute). (Rhett Buttler, 2009)

Effects of Human Activities on Nature and Wildlife Human Activities Effects on Nature and WildlifePlantation Plantation of monoculture and introduced tree species cause

loss of biodiversity by uniformity of geneticsClear Felling Dead and decayed woods and leaves are removed, it causes

loss of organisms that depends on itDraining Lowering of water level cause loss of wetlands and mangrove

high of biodiversityWeeding of Shrubs Removal of understorey cause loss of habitat for many speciesPesticide Poisoning of non target speciesFertiliser Change in plant communities, affecting ecosystemsHeavy Machines Disturb wildlife and activity cycle of animalsRecreation Noisy visitors might disturb wildlifeGrazing Overgrazing cause damage to young plants

Effects of DeforestationDeforestation disrupts the system of nutrient recycling within tropical rainforest. Inorganic elements are released through burn and slash of forest, high intensity rains also flush nutrient out due to soil erosion. Besides that, trees and shrubs that are home to several thousand species of insect and animals are cleared. Larger sized animal species such as mammals and reptiles without home and source of food are entirely eradicated causing mass loss of diversity. Insects and other small animals thrive but greatly reduced in numbers, thus reducing genetic biodiversity, making them prone to disease and extinction. (Derek et al. 2004)

ConclusionDeforestation of Madagascar's rainforest has been severe and rapid due to exploding population. Population growth of poverty group poses harm against the natural assets of Madagascar. Since most of Madagascar's animals are not found elsewhere in the world, the eradication of one species in Madagascar means it is lost forever. There is an urgent need to study Madagascar's biodiversity, to enable and learn how to best conserve it. Protected land covers a small portion of the country, even these areas very few of the parks and reserves are actively policied due to government negligence and the priority to attend economic needs.

ReflectionFrom this case study we learnt the role of government in balancing between economic development and environmental sustainability in a country. Country with high poverty rate have less educated citizens, therefore there are no awareness of sustainable logging or extracting forest resources. People depending on rainforest for earning and survival to feed their family can be educated through camps and campaigns. Global efforts such as voluntary teams can help to educate the people of Madagascar to harvest rainforest’s resources without damaging it to the extent that the forest is unable to recover. Their future generations get to enjoy the sustainable economic benefit brought by the forest and also the beauty of Madagascar’s wildlife.

Case Study 2:How Disturbance to Forest Affects Biodiversity (Malaysia)

IntroductionIn this case study, the researchers in Sabah used dung beetle as an indicator of biodiversity change from the impact of deforestation. The researchers collected dung beetle samples from primary forest, logged forest and plantation forest.

Why dung beetle as indicator?Dung beetle are essential decomposer organisms, involved with nutrient recycling, seed dispersal and are therefore an important role of tropical rainforest systems. (Hanski & Krikken 1991). In this study the researchers examined the effects of deforestation towards dung beetle's assemblages because dung beetle's taxonomy, behavior and ecology have been rigorously studied in South-east Asia (Hanski, 1983).

MethodsStudy SiteThe study was carried out at Danum Valley Field Centre, area of primary forest within Ulu Segama Reserve in south-eastern Sabah.

Sampling techniquesDung beetle samples was collected using baited pitfall and flight intercept traps. Beetles was classified into riverine (Near river) and interior primary (In forest).

AnalysisDifferent dung beetle species associates with different responses to disturbance such as logged forest and plantation. The river neared dung beetle species showed positive response to some disturbance, the primary forest species showed negative response to disturbance in habitat. But overall the dung beetles doesn’t go well with disturbance of its habitat, their numbers decreased from the impact of human activities.

ResultsThe researchers found out that diversity was lower in logged compared with primary forest, the lowest species richness was recorded in plantation forest.

ReflectionThis case study reveals the devastating implications of plantations. To create a plantation, the forest has to be entirely removed, the cleared land is replanted afterwards, but it only consist of a single crop plant species which is unviable for rainforest ecosystem to work. As observed in the case study above, the lost of habitat and food source in plantation cause dung beetle’s number to drop dramatically, whereas in logged forest, the number of dung beetles are higher than those of plantation, from here we can conclude that logged forest still maintains part of the original ecosystem, although the removal of desired tree species for timber does impact the biodiversity as a whole.

Case Study 3:How Deforestation and Oil Palm Plantation Affects Biodiversity in Eastern Sabah

Introduction

Source: http://www.palmoilworld.org/about_malaysian-industry.html

Over the next 50 years, natural ecosystems worldwide will face serious threats if agricultural expansion happens too fast. (Tilman et al. 2001). Oil Palm is one of the most rapidly expanding equatorial crops in the world. Palm oil cultivation is accounting for almost one-tenth of world's cropland (FAQ 2007;WRI 2007). Our country, Malaysia is 2nd largest palm oil producing country with over 5.1 million hectare at 2012 (Sime Darby, 2012). Coincidently, our country also accounts for 11% of the world's remaining tropical rainforests (Iremonger et al. 1997). This means that the impacts of increasingly plantation of palm oil in Malaysia has potential impact in forest biodiversity because governments deforest to make space for croplands. How does palm oil plantation affects biodiversity? Before the planting of oil palms, the forest will be completely cleared of vegetation. After clearing, the land is terraced before planting the young palms. The humus and leaf litter layer is lacking in the new plantation due to erosion of top soil because there are no presence of big trees to provide shelter from the rain. (Mac Kinnon et al. 1996).To find out biodiversity disturbance from oil plantations, leaf litter ants can be used as indicators because the ants are responsible for process of nutrient recycling. They are also the main predator for ground arthropods such as millipede and spiders. (Carroll and Janzen 1973).

MethodsStudy sitesThe ants were collected in 4 oil palm plantation in Eastern Sabah. In the In the Mayvin oil palm estate (MOP) and in plantations near Tawai Hills Forest Reserve (THFR), Deramakot Forest Reserve (DFR) and Sepilok Forest Reserve (SFR).

SamplingThe researchers used baits consisting a teaspoon of canned tuna oil placed on tissue paper to attract ants. The ants that are baited are collected and stored separately. They were sorted to genus level, the presence and absence of ant species in bait sites was then analysed.

ResultsIn total 23 ant species in 14 genera were recorded. The randomized species

accumulation curves in oil plantations were much flatter than the forest. This indicates that transformation of forest to plantation decreases the ant's species biodiversity. Further more, results found that the species richness in forest was on average five times higher than that of the plantation sites.

AnalysisFurther analysis shows that deforestation dwindles biodiversity by clearing trees cause erosion of the top soil, the absence of leaf litters reduce the availability of nest sites for litter-nesting species (Carvalho and Vasconcelos 1999). Besides that, hot and dry condition hardens the soil and prevent colony establishment.

ConclusionFrom the analysis, we can derive that the low abundance and biodiversity richness indicates that oil palm plantation cannot provide habitat suitable for forest ants.

ReflectionMalaysia is a rapid developing country that aims to be a developed country by year 2020, most of our citizens are educated and there are only less than 1% of people live in poverty. Madagascar’s education and poverty rate is far less than Malaysia, but the people in these countries behaves the same, prioritizing economic development while neglecting the environment. Malaysian government has been extensively propagating environmental awareness messages through mass media and campaigns, but this effort is wasted if our government continue to turn forest into plantations. Malaysia is stressing her rainforest to cater the global needs of palm oil. While doing this our biodiversity are being destroyed at a pace that will spell ecological disaster to our future generations.

1.5 Recommended Solutions

It is impossible to stop deforestation in short amount of time. With the current rate of deforestation, achieving zero percent of deforestation is impossible. We need to conserve our remaining forests to prevent further biodiversity eradication. But hopes are still high for Malaysia as other countries such as Paraguay deforestation rates were reduced as much as 85% just by implementing the 2004 Zero Deforestation law (WWF,2014). Here are a few solutions that we thought might aid in Malaysian and also global biodiversity rescue effort.

Company PolicyCompanies can introduce zero-deforestation policies to filter out suppliers. Suppliers that produce commodities that require resources from nature such as palm oil, paper or livestock has to do it in a way that has minimal impact on natural forest. Companies can also go paperless by maximizing the use digital copies and recycled paper documents.

Sustainable ConsumerConsumers such as people like us can put pressure or boycott companies that have bad environmental practices. We must also become role model for our children by instilling environmental awareness in children since young.

PoliticsInternational community must set policies to reduce deforestation as their main goal. Developing countries with tropical rainforest can make commitments to protect their forest in exchange for funding development of environmental sustainable technologies. Doing this will enable the developing countries to achieve their economic needs while taking care of their rainforest resources.

Reforestation Reforestation is the opposite of deforestation. If deforestation is sought as hurting the biodiversity, reforestation and be considered as healing back the nature. In reforestation, forests are replanted with multiple species of native trees. In time, the forests would regenerate its health. We can’t deny that the practice of deforestation in some cases could not be avoided, it can be regulated so as not to create negative impact to the environment and to biodiversity.

Forest ReservesForest reserve are usually protected to prevent irresponsible people from cutting down the trees. Throughout the time, we have an increase in protected areas however, the richness of biodiversity keeps decreasing.(Billo, 2014). But we still have to keep increasing forest reserve areas and improving the places with rich biodiversity. The government must also improve the rules and regulations to prevent illegal agreements between corrupted enforcers and illegal logger. This means making stricter laws on who can enter into these protected areas and hire more forest rangers to hunt down illegal poachers and loggers.

Conclusion

Biodiversity is important, it is what makes our planet alive. Biodiversity encompass every living things on Earth. Our planet’s natural assets are made up of plants, animals, land, water, the atmosphere and us. We are part of Earth’s ecosystem.

However in this ever progressing world, Earth’s biodiversity are increasingly being destroyed at a pace that it cannot recover. One of the main threats of biodiversity is deforestation. Slash and burn agriculture by subsistence farmers, timber exploitation, conversion to farmland, and cutting of wood for fuel and forest products are happening everywhere. Rainforest biomes are difficult to conserve due to their uniqueness and fragility. Being a future architect, we must do our part to save Earth’s environment by incorporating environmental design values in our buildings. Sustainable designs will help reduce carbon footprint on Earth and thus aiding in preserving biodiversity.

As a citizen of Malaysia, we must also be concerned of environmental issues that are prevalent here. If all of us are determined to eliminate threats of biodiversity, we will be able to return Earth’s health to its former glory, a place where every living things on Earth flourishes.