Namibia - CountryWatch

Environmental Overview Global Environmental Concepts
The concept of islandization illustrates why conservation and preservation of wildlife and biodiversity
must consider and adopt new, broader strategies. In the past, conservation and preservation efforts
have been aimed at specific species, such as the spotted owl and grizzly bear in North America, the
Bengal tiger in Southeast Asia, the panda in China, elephants in Africa. Instead, the new approach is to
simultaneously protect many and varied species that inhabit the same ecosystem. This method,
referred to as "bio-regional conservation," may more efficaciously generate longer-term and more farreaching
results precisely because it is aimed at preserving entire ecosystems, and all the living things
within.
More About Biodiversity Issues:
This section is directly taken from the United Nations Environmental Program: "Biodiversity Assessment"
The Global Biodiversity Assessment, completed by 1500 scientists under the auspices of United
Nations Environmental Program in 1995, updated what is known (or unknown) about global biological
diversity at the ecosystem, species and genetic levels. The assessment was uncertain of the total number
of species on Earth within an order of magnitude. Of its working figure of 13 million species, only
13 percent are scientifically described. Ecological community diversity is also poorly known, as is its
relationship to biological diversity, and genetic diversity has been studied for only a small number of
species. The effects of human activities on biodiversity have increased so greatly that the rate of species
extinctions is rising to hundreds or thousands of times the background level. These losses are
driven by increasing demands on species and their habitats, and by the failure of current market systems
to value biodiversity adequately. The Assessment calls for urgent action to reverse these trends.
There has been a new recognition of the importance of protecting marine and aquatic biodiversity. The
first quantitative estimates of species losses due to growing coral reef destruction predict that almost
200,000 species, or one in five presently contributing to coral reef biodiversity, could die out in the
next 40 years if human pressures on reefs continue to increase.
Since Rio, many countries have improved their understanding of the status and importance of their
biodiversity, particularly through biodiversity country studies such as those prepared under the auspices
of UNEP/GEF. The United Kingdom identified 1250 species needing monitoring, of which 400
require action plans to ensure their survival. Protective measures for biodiversity, such as legislation to
protect species, can prove effective. In the USA, almost 40 percent of the plants and animals protected
under the Endangered Species Act are now stable or improving as a direct result of recovery efforts.
Some African countries have joined efforts to protect threatened species through the 1994 Lusaka
Agreement, and more highly migratory species are being protected by specialized cooperative agreements
among range states under the Bonn Agreement.
There is an emerging realization that a major part of conservation of biological diversity must take
place outside of protected areas and involve local communities. The extensive agricultural areas occu-
Namibia Review 2013 208