Here is my wildlife conservationWhy is animal conservation important? Animal conservation is important, because animals are the only mechanism to create biodiversity, which is the mechanism that creates a habitable planet for humans. Without animals, the energy from today’s plants (algae, trees, flowers etc) will eventually reach the atmosphere and ocean, much of it as carbon. The quantity of this plant-based waste is so More ten-point plan for a change in human values necessary to start rebuilding wildlife populations. Some of these are things you can do. Others are things you might expect your leaders or conservationists to be doing. You can do your part by being more generous to the animals around you. And you can support those who are steering society to a better outcome for all wildlife:
Animal Impact Statement
The world we were born into couldn’t exist without wildlife because animals and ecosystemsHow ecosystems function An ecosystem is a community of lifeforms that interact in such an optimal way that how ecosystems function best, is when all components (including humans and other animals) can persist and live alongside each other for the longest time possible. Ecosystems are fuelled by the energy created by plants (primary producers) that convert the Sun's heat energy More are inseparable. Without wildlife, Earth cannot be habitable for human beings.
Each time we remove a wild animal from the environment, we reduce its connectivity to the landscape for its entire lifetime. Its functional activity is lost to our world thousands of times over – the processes that create clean air, fertile soil, rich fisheries and stable climate. We lose animals on a linear scale but the impact, the life support they give us, is lost at an exponential rate and cannot ever be replaced by our technology.
To alter the trajectory of our planet from one that will become uninhabitable to one where humans can survive as part of the nature that made us, we have to rebuild the wildlife populations that support us. Ecologists and conservationists need to be paid to protect animals against all odds, to work with farmers and fishers, to recreate lost species richnessThe number of species within a given area. Note, this is often confused with biodiversity but is very different. Species richness is not equal in all areas. Desert species richness is lower but the scale and intensity of species function can still be significant as biodiversity is not about number of species, it's about ecosystem processes. More and the diversity of life support ecosystems on which our entire global economy is built.
In his blog under the heading ‘Which charity?’ author Seth Godin explains that we hire non-profit organisations when we don’t know how to solve a problem, because organisations that address problems that can be solved are called businesses.
Animals solve a problem we don’t know how to solve and one that science never will. It’s possibly the biggest existential problem humanity has ever faced. We stand no chance of ever understanding or addressing it through our own technological means. If animals were a non-profit, providing problem-solving services, this would be their impact statement:
Animal ImpactWhat is Animal Impact? Without wildlife, Earth would not be habitable for humans, because it's animals that stabilise ecosystems. It’s a fundamental law of nature that animals (and humans) exist because we are the most likely lifeforms to minimise environmental chaos. Animal impact, therefore, is a measure of how much all wildlife is collectively responsible for creating a habitable Earth. The More Statement
- Animals create ecosystems by building structures that are the mechanism to stabilise planetary energy at scale and avoid catastrophic climate chaos(Of energy and ecosystems). Ecosystems are thermodynamically driven. Disorder occurs when energy dissipates and becomes more chaotic. For example, the release of hot air into the atmosphere results in that energy is freer to disperse (maximum entropy). The opposite is true when energy is locked into biological processes, when it is stored inside molecules (minimum entropy). Stability in ecosystems occurs More, the death of the oceans and the collapse of human society.
- Animals transfer(of nutrients) the thing that sets animals apart from plants, is that they can move. Some of the biggest migrations on Earth every day, are the movement of insects like caterpillars, from the stem of a plant to a leaf and back, before turning into butterflies and transferring the energy elsewhere. Large-scale migration of grazing animals and migratory songbirds moves More, amplifyAmplification (of nutrients and energy). Animals consume plants and other animals and in doing so, reintroduce important energy-containing nutrients back into the environment, at even higher concentrations and in patches. Amplification of energy is driven by migration and happens at every scale, from insects moving daily in and out of your vegetable patch, to African wildebeest herds and the seasonal More and concentrate nutrientsEnergy and nutrients are the same thing. Plants capture energy from the Sun and store it in chemicals, via the process of photosynthesis. The excess greenery and waste that plants create, contain chemicals that animals can eat, in order to build their own bodies and reproduce. When a chemical is used this way, we call it a nutrient. As we More on a phenomenal scale, delivering resources to make farms and fisheries economically viable and provide critical and sustainable human food security.
- Animals suppress the eruption of diseases and pests like locust, jellyfish and squid, that plague our farms and fisheries and put lives at risk.
Wildlife Conservation 10-point plan for a change in human values
- At every level of society put animals first and accept that we owe other animals the same level of respect as humans, because we are an animal and cannot exist without wildlife alongside us.
- Teach the world how the absence of animals from our lives will almost certainly lead to rapid extinction of the human race and how declines in wildlife are already leading to imminent economic and social collapse.
- Develop new criteria for species conservation based on animals’ contribution to biodiversityWhat is the definition of biodiversity? When we ask, what is the definition of biodiversity? It depends on what we want to do with it. The term is widely and commonly misused, leading to significant misinterpretation of the importance of how animals function on Earth and why they matter a great deal, to human survival. Here I will try to More (their importance in ecosystem structures and their propensity to transfer, amplify and concentrate nutrients).
- Teach the relationship between ecosystems and wildlife in school and university courses about ecology and environmental science. This is the only biologically plausible explanation for how the world works. It justifies conservation for humanity’s sake.
- Work with governments all over the world to disassemble policy and regulations that wrongly use scarcity as the surrogate for a species’ value, as this has led us to make abundant errors that risk our species’ survival. For all decisions that might affect our living environment, instead ask the question, ‘What is the animal impact?’ Don’t allow anything to be done that would reduce the impact of animals on climate, food security and water.
- Work with local people, farmers and fishers so they can be the first to understand the impact animals have on their livelihoods and future productivityThe power of an ecosystem to process energy. The most productive ecosystems have reached a steady stable-state with maximum entropy production. That’s to say, the number of species has reached an optimum and the functions they fulfil, have translated free surplus energy into nutrients that is either stored inside plants and animals, or is entrained within the biological cycles that More. Give them the job of becoming leaders in wildlife conservation and sustainability, so they can protect our food security. Because unless they are empowered, we have no food or future.
- Recognise the work conservationists are doing to save the human species by paying properly for it. Allocate domestic budgets proportionate to the importance of their work in saving global soil and ocean systems, on which everything depends, and connect them with farmers and fishers to transfer knowledge and skills.
- Invest in the rapid and scalable rebuilding of wild animal populations everywhere. This might include, for example:
- a) Introducing a margin for wildlife around every agricultural field in the world and farm this as though it is food (because it is essential for soil integrity).
- b) Putting an immediate halt to deliberate or unnecessary killing of any wildlife, such as migratory songbirds.
- c) Taking enormous care when using pesticides to temporarily address locust plagues and other ‘pests’, in case we are making matters much worse.
- d) Not allowing the values of protected areas to be destroyed, by any direct or indirect means, through human development.
- e) Removing obstacles to large-scale animal survival, and in particular, giving wildlife the room to move around the Earth unimpeded.
- Do not permit any new development or disturbance of fully functioning habitatsWhat is habitat for animals and people? Habitat, hence the word "habitable" describes the natural surroundings in which any animal (or human) lives, that houses basic needs, such as food and shelter. Vegetation, for example, is habitat for animals. On its own, habitat is not necessarily stable or sustainable, which is why it differs from an ecosystem. Habitat in disrepair More that have not already been affected by humans. This would include cutting down primary forest, mining the deep ocean or fishing in mid-ocean habitats. We cannot afford to open up new frontiers of environmental damage.
- Encourage people to connect with wildlife sustainably, such as through tourism, and actively foster a newfound respect and commitment to animals, their welfare and their lives.
About Wildlife in the Balance
For the background to my wildlife conservation 10-point plan for a change in human values, read my book Wildlife in the Balance.
