I often find it helpful to look at a
formal definition of a term in order to
jumpstart some ideas about an
interesting topic and for this video the
term I want to look at is conservation
it's been defined as the study of the
loss of Earth's biological diversity and
the ways this loss can be prevented so
right there up front biodiversity is a
fundamental part of the very definition
of conservation conservation or
protection a biodiversity can be
accomplished in many many ways and from
my point of view these can be classified
into two basic approaches one is
protecting species and the other is
protecting places in which those species
live different kinds of conservation
techniques can be applied to these two
different approaches but in a lot of
cases very similar methods can also
accomplish the goals the concepts of
saving species and saving places weave
together just as much as they can be
treated separately let's start with
techniques that can protect species
species protection is valuable because
it can be used to prioritize which
species are most in need of being saved
before they face the biggest deadline of
all extinction species protection can
include legislation at national or local
levels to protect organisms that most
need protection through things like the
Endangered Species Act other types of
statutory protection of species can be
developed through international treaties
such as the Convention on International
trade in endangered species or sight
ease this treaty controls or regulates
international markets for wild animals
and plants or their parts so that
they're not driven to extinction or
overexploited in ways that are harmful
not only to the organisms and
biodiversity but to the markets
themselves an example of how economic
interest can and should dovetail with
protection of the environment
in some cases a species is so threatened
that a complete ban on its trade is
required international wildlife trade is
estimated to involve hundreds of
millions of individual plants and
animals resulting in a market worth
billions of dollars a year so it's not a
small problem and it ranges from live
animals and plants to products that are
derived from organisms such as food
leather goods timber curios medicines
and even things like wooden musical
instruments another really useful
conservation tool is the read list of
the International Union for Conservation
of Nature the IUCN which provides very
useful guidelines highlighting the types
of biodiversity or the species
themselves that need to be protected the
most all species are placed in one of
seven I you see n categories ranging
from extinct to least concern placing
species into these categories requires
adequate data which underscores the
importance of biodiversity research and
the dissemination of the findings and
that's what I always mean about
biodiversity research and it's symbiotic
partner education good data equal better
decisions the IUCN highlights the
crucial nature of research if you have
the right data you can place known
species into one of the seven different
categories categories that are really
really helpful for education as well as
for making good protection policies and
even for helping fundraise for more
research more education and conservation
another species protection technique
involves the establishment of Species
Survival plans or SSPs
when scientists believe that captive
breeding programs can help prevent
extinction SSPs can be developed for
species that are in danger of extinction
in the wild SSPs helped to maintain in
captivity a reservoir of healthy
populations of endangered animal species
populations that maintain Jeanette
diversity through careful breeding
programs within the accredited community
of zoos and aquaria that are approved
for maintaining these breeding programs
in North America alone there are over
170 species covered by more than 100
formal Species Survival plans that are
specifically aimed at trying to maintain
populations of species that may or may
not still exist in the wild some SSPs
are specifically aimed at reintroducing
these species back to the wild I should
say a few brief words on the concept of
reintroduction it's a bit like any
high-risk surgery a complex ecosystem
can be compared to your own body with
surgery it's hard to know if it's going
to be successful or maybe introduce more
problems down the road and it's always
bloody expensive same with programs that
reintroduce species to wild ecosystems
they can be risky and expensive too but
also like surgery in some cases
reintroduction can be really effective
as a last resort to save lives it's
slowly working for things like some
species of rare plants the Oryx and
whooping cranes there are guiding
principles for reintroductions there has
to be adequate appropriate intact
habitat in which to actually reintroduce
the species so here we get this
overlapping effort not just to save an
individual species but to start talking
about habitat preservation and
restoration it's not much good to set
your whooping cranes free in the wild if
there's not enough wetland for them to
dance around in to mate breed and get
food for their young to let them do
their thing I would assist that the
expense that we put into these efforts
are worthwhile at every step of the way
because of so much more than just
counting up the individuals that you can
save the whooping crane is a magnificent
animal
it symbolizes something special about
unique environments in wild places that
in general people really want to hold on
to people like magnificent
these cranes focus attention on
organisms that symbolize the importance
of trying to save not just individuals
or certain species but entire places
where these species can continue to
exist and the side benefits of this kind
of conservation this technique of
reintroduction includes public awareness
a teaching opportunity that focuses even
more awareness on the overall problems
of biodiversity loss let's explore more
about what it means to conserve places
in nature arguably this is the most
powerful way to protect biodiversity
because by saving a place you will
likely be saving entire ecosystems
you're certainly saving habitats and
this approach presents an opportunity to
protect the most highly biodiverse or
unique places on earth through the
enactment of public policy places like
biodiversity hotspots again this brings
research and education together to help
promote and expand the idea of saving an
entire place now some places have been
protected simply by the remoteness think
of Antarctica for example in spite of
seeming to be harsh and lifeless it's a
fragile place full of life and it's
constantly under pressure from some kind
of resource extraction like fishing
luckily so far Antarctic biodiversity
has been able to avoid most of the
damage caused by human activity but
really only because of its distance from
most human activities it's a more
difficult place to get to and to make
money in but that will change as
technology improves so that the passive
protection of remoteness will likely
soon go away
of course other places that are more
threatened by human encroachment have
been singled out for special status as
protected parks I remember in my youth
we even had places called conservation
areas in southern Ontario where I grew
up
certainly as a kid I loved being able to
walk through these conservation areas
and seeing things that I wasn't going to
see in any urban environment that
surrounded them they had a big influence
on my early ideas and hopes to study
protect these special places everybody
knows about the United States National
Park System which is being called
America's best idea it could be argued
that without the protected parks and
regions that have been established
around the world biodiversity would have
taken an even bigger hit than it has so
far in the sea marine protected areas
are under water conservation parks these
places are havens for organisms like
fish that would otherwise be subjected
to over harvesting that would reduce
diversity and cause negative changes in
their ecosystems marine protected areas
can allow populations to recover serving
as reservoirs to repopulate surrounding
areas a good example of this is in the
Philippines where a body of water called
the Verdi Island passage already has
patches of coral reef ecosystems that
are marine protected areas but imagine
if the entire passage could become a
gigantic area where the recovery and
reservoir functions can happen with
regulation total exploitation of the
special part of the Coral Triangle could
be prevented allowing the passage to act
as a kind of pump for corals and other
reef species distributing them out to
more impacted areas in surrounding
waters the Verde island passage has
shown resilience to coral diseases and
bleaching and surrounding areas
suffering from environmental degradation
would recover more quickly because
you've got this unsurpassed biodiversity
reservoir in the verity island passage
as a neighbor a neighbor with that
all-important healthy ecosystem function
that makes for strong ecosystem services
lastly I want to mention an emerging
field called conservation genetics that
ties into protection not just of species
but of several different levels of
biodiversity from the genetic traits to
vary among individual members of
populations all the way to the various
populations that make up a species and
of course this includes the genetic
diversity held within entire ecosystems
so conservation genetics is a different
potentially powerful way of looking at
conservation techniques and a new way of
assessing the value of protecting and
conserving different ecosystems
essentially another tool in the
conservation tool belt any big picture
inclusive conservation approach such as
this requires rigorous diverse data that
rely on the science of evolutionary
lineages the stuff of how biodiversity
is actually generated over time and
space all this science helps us better
understand what types of organisms are
most crucial to a given area or to a
given lineage and how biodiversity
protection can most effectively be
served by the right conservation
techniques techniques that we need now
more than ever