Conservation Policies of Biodiversity - Research Paper Example

Environment The problem of environmental degradation and biodiversity1 conservation has been on debate for a long time. Concerns on the current climate changes and global warming in the US and other countries the world over has led to efforts by the government policymakers to propose environmental conservation policies aimed at providing a remedy for the looming hazards that may result from environment degradation. There are many policies set in place to assist in environmental protection but none of them can single-handedly solve the environmental issues in the entire world. The degradation of the environment emanate from all angles of the daily life processes like the transportation systems that contributes highly to the carbon dioxide emission in the US, greenhouse gases , and other degradations processes like deforestation for agriculture2. Most environmental specialist believe that the current crisis facing the environmental conservation efforts result from a conflict between the traditional methods of regulation and ambiguous programs and policies initiated by the government3. A section of scientist and ecologist believe that the biodiversity conservation is the key to environmental conservation4. According to their arguments, considerations of biodiversity while implementing environmental development and conservation policies will ensure that a healthy ecosystem is maintained and a steady food supply chain is achieved5. The policies regulating environmental and biodiversity imposed by policymakers have specific characteristics. This specialization in their areas of concern makes them successful in some situations and irrelevant in others. The major issues that surround effectiveness of environmental policies are the problem of a clear-cut identification of optimal policy instruments that will cater for all environmental conservation processes6. This paper provides an overview of the recent literature proposal concerning the institutional environment, framework of policies, and economic tools used for analysis of environmental and biodiversity conservation policies7. The paper highlights the economic effects of alternative policy options. The first part includes the dissertation topic which center around biodiversity as an optimum method of environmental conservation. The second part tackles some of the policies set up concerning environmental conservation. The final part presents some of the economic policy options that may be implemented in efforts for biodiversity conservation programs. The focus of this paper will be conservation policies of biodiversity, a measure to conserve the environment. Biodiversity in environmental conservation refers to the biological diversity of living organisms in a given location8. It refers to the variability, variety, and number of organisms and has several levels, which includes ecosystem diversity, species diversity, and so on. Current reports indicate that more than half of the species in the world are concentrated on less than ten percent of the earth’s surface. These reports highlight the undue pressure that is experienced by the diverse species in the environment, and the possibility of getting worse with the increase in population of the human beings9. Since the meeting held by the UN concerning Environment and Development, biodiversity has been the center stage of environmental conservation efforts. Ecologist and scientist have been preaching to the world on the significance of biodiversity as a measure to a healthy ecosystem and consistent food supply chain is achievable. Nevertheless, the US current policies on biodiversity are outdated and place the economic burden of biodiversity on local communities. Several agencies have been initiated to deal with the biodiversity problem, notably the Global Environmental Facility (GEF). GEF is an agency that funds projects that aim at conserving and protecting natural habitants and biodiversity in the environment10. In addition to the biodiversity woes, an estimated 290 species have become extinct in the US, with a looming threat to existing ecosystems and habitants. There is no clear evidence of human participation in biodiversity degradation, but the available facts indicate that biodiversity decline, and hence environmental degradation, are results of human activities11. These activities include social and cultural behaviors of human because of economic activities, and proximate causes that include fishing, hunting, and habitant alteration for human settlement. Other factors result from ethics and cultures, poverty, increase in human population, and little economic incentives for protection and conservation12. The economic aspect on biodiversity concerns the allocation of resources to conserve the environmental diversity. Economics involves allocation of resources to cater for human needs13. As such, allocation of a portion of these resources to the biodiversity conservation efforts is essential. A diverse and healthy environment is the major shelter of the human life. Human being depend on the environment for all their essential needs like clean air for breathing, food, favorable climate and so on. Degradation of biodiversity in the environment may pose serious hazards to the human race, as a poorly conserved and monopolistic environment results to crises like earthquake, storms, global warming, unpredictable weather patterns that affect the agricultural calendar, hurricanes, floods, wild fires and other natural hazards14. A nation’s policy on biodiversity protection gives an idea to the nation’s development policy. Programs that advocate for biodiversity protection involve allocating large chunks of state land as reserves, forests, and parks. These lands are used to nurture the diverse species and ecosystems that exist in the environment. From the current viewpoint, the consequences of such an action would translate to having large margins of land underdeveloped15. The implication is that the nation must forgo the economic benefits of developing the lands for conservation purposes. There is also the risk of allocation of people living in the lands set aside for the conservation programs. A solution to the problem may be compensation in monetary terms or land to these people. Environmental and biodiversity conservation policy need to address all these issues, or the result will be a rush for land conservation for settlement that will lead to further deterioration of environmentally induced climate hazards16. In general, biodiversity and environmental conservation efforts are constantly under the threat of being second place to ‘economic’ development. This is a result of different definitions of the value of biodiversity resources. Economist define value as the marginal utility of resources in the production process of services and goods, while ecologist define value as the contribution of a resource to the sustainability of human existence17. With the economist ruling most of the policies that governs a country, economic development often precedes environmental development. The values of biodiversity resources are infinite in an ecologist point of view. The environment is the fundamental survival factor of all human beings. Besides the natural and economical importance of biodiversity resources, there are the ethical issues that relate to future generations18. Biodiversity Conservation Policies The US government considers the conservation of biological diversity resources and the environment as a national priority. Despite these observations, there is no dedicated law that advocates for biodiversity conservation. Nevertheless, more than 25 US laws incorporate biodiversity conservation efforts19. Some of these laws include the Endangered Species Act, and Marine Mammal Protection Act. Below are the analysis of the two policies, and an addition of the recently proposed international biodiversity policy. The Endangered Species Act The Endangered Species Act (ESA) in the US laws advocates for federal protection of threatened or endangered species in living in the US ecological systems20. The act defines threatened species as those plants and animals that have high probabilities of being endangered in the near future. It further states that the risk of becoming endangered applies to the significant or whole population of the species. On the definition of endangered species, the act considers them as those that are highly likely to become extinct in the near future, with the same application of the risk factor to the significant or whole population of the species21. The ESA policy has been effective, as it has enlisted all the species in the US that face threats of extinction. Statuses of these endangered species are based on publications by NMFS and USFWS with dates indicating the formal publication date that the species obtain the endangered status. Those species waiting in the proposed threatened species also has a formal date for the proposal writing. In general, the act has an effective system of classifying threatened and endangered plant and animal species in the US ecosystem22. The only problem with the ESA law is that it focuses primarily on the preservation of charismatic species like the Bald Eagle23. The law is more concerned with preservation of endangered species than the conservation of biodiversity of all the species. The policy’s efforts of preservation should be redirected to focus on the overall conservation of species in the US. More considerations should be put to the importance of revolutionary of ecosystems and their management. Marine Mammal Protection Act In 1972, the enactment of the Marine Mammal Protection Act into law was a considerable achievement for environmentalists and policy makers24. The act prohibits the exploitation of marine mammals through human activities like importation and mammal hunting. The issues that prompt the policymakers to pass the act revolve around danger of extinction of some the marine mammals25. Marine observers had the fear that the mammals number were decreasing with time. The act also consists of replenishment programs for those species that are in danger of extinction. Another concern was the growing significance of the marine mammal globally. In 1994, the act was amended to incorporate stock-assessment programs, permitted and authorized exceptions for Alaska Natives, and studies for interaction of some of the mammal species26. The act covers most of the essential consideration of the biodiversity in the marine ecosystem, but this is specialized to the marine mammals only27. Another imminent problem is the unavailability of an appropriate method of determining the population of any one given species in the marine environment. This places the legitimacy of declaration of endangered species into question. The replenishment schemes for the depleting marine mammals species has not been implemented according to the proposals that were in place during the drafting of the act and the subsequent amendment. Sustaining Environment Capital “Sustaining Environment Capital” is a report released by the US government in July 201128. The report focuses on the relationship between the economy and the environmental, especially on the relation between business and biodiversity. This is the first step of the government’s initiative in designing a policy that will regulate biodiversity conservation in the country. According to the report, the US government aims to establish its effective role in the conservation process, the approaches that best suits its intervention, and a cost effective plan for both the government and the private sector involvement in the biodiversity conservation efforts29. The most important aspect of the report is the proposal for the US department of State to coordinate with the OSTP in the development of a platform on biodiversity conservation and ecosystems services30. The proposal illustrates the formation of the platform under the UNEP umbrella, with responsibilities of giving scientific information on biodiversity and ecological systems31. Further to these developments, success of the proposal will set pace for the adoption of the Convention on Biological Diversity policy, which is still pending. The problem associated with the report is that the policy is on an international scale. Despite the benefits that may accrue to its international implementation, fears are that concerns on a national level may be neglected in the end. Adoption of the Convention on Biological Diversity is along short considering that it has been pending approval for quite some time32. Analyzing these policies, the losers and the winners are constant. The people who gain from the above biodiversity policies are well beyond the realms of those communities that contribute to the conservation efforts33. Biodiversity conservation programs are among the public good nature, those goods whose benefits are not exclusive to a given individual or group. The beneficiary of these efforts is the entire universe, but those who contribute (affected financially) are the residence or nation. Among the three policies, the MMPA law seems to be the weakest34. It focuses on a single ecosystem of species. Despite its monopolistic nature of operation, it still rates low from the expected success in biodiversity conservation. The stronger among the three is the last proposal on successful environment capital. The main aim of providing information of biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services will enlighten the government on the effective conservation measures that have proved successful in other parts of the world35. Despite that, the success of the policy adoption will set the pace for the ratification of the Convention on Biological Diversity in place. It will be hitting two birds with a single stone. From a personal perspective, the ideal biodiversity policy initial framework should incorporate the safe minimum standard rule (presented by Bishop in 1978)36. In its application, the SMS rules stipulate that there must be a minimum standard of environmental conservation in the society. The rules advocate for conservation of biodiversity beyond the daily routine operations of the society. It bases its principle on the ethical and economical values of the biodiversity resources. Concluding the paper with a personal view, biodiversity conservation is an international problem that requires support, cooperation and understanding from a global point of view. An efficient biodiversity policy framework will incorporate a multidisciplinary approach to the problem, effective compensation schemes, and the basics of safe minimum standard rules37. Apart from the SMS rules, all the others factors have been taken into consideration. The international policy on biodiversity and the introduction of ecological economics is a great achievement to wards the conservation efforts. Read More