Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Socioeconomics and Endangered Species

       Socioeconomics having a part in species endangerment is probably not something you would think would have effects on one another. It makes sense though, population density, GDP and land use all have significant effects on why so many species are falling to endangerment and extinction. Although this study was done in European nations, tropical and subtropical areas tend to have greater amounts of wildlife diversity, but at the same time, many of these tropical countries are also developing nations with high populations and high pressure on agriculture. Agriculture and fishing play heavy roles in the lives of those who are native to such nations.
       The pressure is on the forests and waterways, being slashed and burned to produce crops or raise cattle, and in a few years the soil is unusable to both farmers and the inhabitants of those areas. Lands that were once rich forests become wastelands of dried our soil and nothing can be put back to grow again (maybe not for years). The issue is that these people can only make a short living off these lands and move on once it's no longer useable, resorting to the traditional and unsustainable methods used before and will be used again. 
       There needs to be a way to implement sustainable agricultural and fishing methods that can benefit both the people and the wildlife. More species are become at risk every year, and is not slowing down. Habitat loss and fragmentation are one of the main reasons species are becoming endangered, and to permanently destroy the living space is not going to solve any problems.  Species are falling at the hands of man for too long now, and it's time to change the methods used and time to educate the people on how to implement better ways to farm and fish. It's always easier said than done, but something has to happen before it is too late.


Posted by Alicia Champagne (1)

5 comments:

  1. It seems that in order for change to occur with the endangerment and loss of species within our habitat, we as a people need to make lifestyle changes. The biggest problem with societies that are destructive to wildlife is that they produce too much for what is needed. America is a big offender in this respect and is also the reason why we waste so much and have such a high obesity rate. What do you think we should do to live more conservative lifestyles?
    Posted by Marshall Moini (2)

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    1. Boycotting big businesses that endorse these types of methods is one option. McDonald's gets more of their meat product from overseas than they do in America. So why not just learn to buy local? That's one way to start, and another way is to avoid products that are not fair trade or rainforest alliance certified. Most cocoa products do not fall into this category, and thus will not benefit anybody. But buying fair trade and rain forest alliance certified products will benefit small farmers more than a corporate (i.e. Hershey chocolate) product. Just gotta start small and the changes will gradually get bigger.

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    2. Here is a link to a website that does such

      http://www.divinechocolate.com/about/films.aspx

      it's about a CoOp for farmers in tropical areas that farm cocoa, and this way they make more money than they could have otherwise.

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  2. It seems to me that the initiative to make these changes really needs to come from us in America and other developed countries. People in developing countries aren't really in a position to take care of their enviroments to the extent that is neccesary. They are concerned with the economic development of their nations through development of agricultural products that are sold in the developed world. If we could make more of an effort to rely on local agriculture, instead of massive imports from developing nations, maybe this could help to slwo the tide of deforestation. However, it might also hurt those in the third world by hindering their economic development. What is your opinion on weighing the intersts of third world development against species protection?

    Posted by Sean McDougall

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    1. Well of course, it is not just the effort of one nation, but many nations working together to solve the issue. The only blockade I see standing in the way is the corporate interest does not benefit from sustainability. There needs to be a way to educate those in developing nations about sustainable methods of agriculture and fishing. The only problem is we ourselves are not fully sustainable and it would be difficult to teach others since we ourselves are not as efficient as we could be.

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