IPBES 9 report for Sustainable use of Wild Species

A report released by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) has stated that about 50,000 wild species globally can meet the needs of billions of people.

• The global assessment stressed that the sustainable use of wild species needed constant negotiation and adaptive management.

Key Highlights

Delegates from 140 countries came together to discuss and reach an outcome on the sustainable use of wildlife. The report is the first of its kind and has been conceived after a period of four years.

However, the Report highlighted the following points:

• Overdependence: According to the Report 70 per cent of the world’s poor population was directly dependent on wild species.
• Used for survival: One out of five sources their food from wild plants, algae and fungi, while 2.4 billion depend on firewood for cooking and around 90 per cent of the 120 million population pursuing fisheries rely on small-scale fishing.
• Cultural significance: The use of wild species defines identities and livelihoods and also holds cultural significance.
• Primitive Conservation Practices: The report noted that the indigenous people and local communities used local knowledge, practices and spirituality for the sustainable use of wild species.
• The assessment shortlisted five categories of practices used for wild species —
• Fishing,
• Gathering,
• Logging,
• Terrestrial animal harvesting which includes hunting and
• Non-extractive practices such as observing.
• Illegal Trade: It also cited illegal use and illegal trade in wild species which is estimated to be about $199 billion (Rs 150,000,000 lakh).

Causes of biodiversity losses:

• Habitat loss and fragmentation: The most dramatic examples of habitat loss come from tropical rain forests. Once covering more than 14 per cent of the earth‘s land surface, these rain forests now cover no more than 6 per cent.
• Over-exploitation: Humans have always depended on nature for food and shelter, but when need turns to ‘greed‘, it leads to overexploitation of natural resources. Many species extinctions in the last 500 years (Steller‘s sea cow, passenger pigeon) were due to overexploitation by humans.
• Alien species invasions: When alien species are introduced unintentionally or deliberately for whatever purpose, some of them turn invasive, and cause the decline or extinction of indigenous species.
• Ex: The Nile perch introduced into Lake Victoria in east Africa led eventually to the extinction of an ecologically unique assemblage of more than 200 species of cichlid fish in the lake.
• Co-extinctions: When a species becomes extinct, the plant and animal species associated with it in an obligatory way also become extinct. When a host fish species becomes extinct, its unique assemblage of parasites also meets the same fate.
  
  

Steps for Conservation

• In-situ Conservation:
  • Sanctuaries
  • National Parks
  • Protected areas
• Ex-situ Conservation:
  • Gene Banks
  • Zoos
  • Cryopreservation Technique