Palm | Kelapa Sawit

“Continued reliance on a strategy of setting aside land and marine territories as "protected areas" is insufficient to stem global biodiversity loss, according to a comprehensive assessment published today in the journal Marine Ecology Progress Series.”

There are five key technical and practical limitations this study states if we continue with heavy reliance on the protected areas strategy to curb biodiversity loss:

• Expected growth in protected area coverage is too slow
• The size and connectivity of protected areas are inadequate
• Protected areas only ameliorate certain human threats
• Underfunding
• Conflicts with human development


The authors underline the correlations between growing world population, natural resources consumption and biodiversity loss triggered by many human stressors. Protecting areas is mainly useful against overexploitation and habitat loss and isn’t addressing other human stressors like climate change, pollution, and invasive species.



According to Peter F. Sale, fellow author and Assistant Director of the United Nations University's Canadian Institute for Water, Environment and Health, “It is important to address the growth in size and consumption rate of our global population.” Both Mora and Sale agree the importance of recognizing our limitations and the heavy reliance we have on protected areas needs to change immediately. Furthermore, they say we need to allocate more time and effort to the difficult issue of human overpopulation and consumption.


"One of the most important things you can do is to keep learning more about our world, its wildlife and the problems it faces."
 For further information on this topic and learn more about this study go to:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-07/unu-ngb072211.php

Landscape Change Leads to Increased Insecticide Use in U.S. Midwest
Recently a study was published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences linking the increased use of insecticides to landscape simplification. Replacing natural habitat with crop land causes an increase in crop pest problems. The continued growth of cropland and loss of natural habitat have increasingly simplified agricultural landscapes in the U.S. Midwest. The cause of pest increases is brought on as the removal of natural habitats destroys the habitat for the beneficial predatory insects. Creating more cropland creates a larger target area for pests giving them what they need to survive and multiply. According to Tim Meehan, the leading author of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, counties with less natural habitat have higher rates of insecticidal use than counties with more areas of natural habitat. It was noted that perennial crops provide a year round habitat for insects, birds and other animals, which are beneficial to the area.
More on this article:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/07/110711151455.htm


Simplified landscapes, with lots of cropland and little natural habitat, promote crop pest problems and increased use of insecticides. (Credit: Illustration courtesy of Tim Meehan, UW-Madsion)

Fewer Aphids in Organic Crop Fields, Study Finds
According to the results in a study done by the Department of Animal Ecology & Tropical Biology, conventional triticale fields treated with insecticides to kill off aphids does not show any improvement and produces a bigger problem as aphid numbers increase. The problem is when fields are treated with insecticides it not only kills off the aphids but it also kills their natural enemies. They compared this to an organic crop field where they discovered three times the amount of natural enemies and five times fewer aphids.
Read the article at:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/07/110713101944.htm

By Carol Staats

 Edward J. Otten wrote many articles on the Effect of Human Population on Biodiversity. He states that according to Erhlich’s theory, humans must voluntarily control their numbers or nature will definitely control them. (through methods that are unpleasant for humans). The rapid rise of growth in the human population is having a grave impact on biodiversity. The destruction of other species by humans will ultimately lead to the destruction of the human species through natural selection.

This global impact is taking place through five primary processes:         

Furthermore, Otten explains the nature of human beings is to control their environment as much as possible, this is what allows us to spread to new habitat and obtain new food sources. However, during the 18th century a combination of scientific, technical, and industrial innovations enabled humans to overharvest not just land animals, but fish, whales, birds and any other species humans could find use for. The technologies of these tools, like harpoons, gunpowder, and driftnets have allowed us to harvest species much faster than they could replace or reproduce themselves. (Otten)

Image from Hawaii http://www.opala.org/solid_waste/Illegal_Dumping_Laws.html

Humans have an advantage and are the most mobile of all species; able to live pretty much anywhere on earth. When traveling from place to place we have often transported other species with us introducing alien species into a new environment where there aren't any natural controls. Hawaii is an example of such devastation. Prior to the arrival of humans Hawaii had thousands of species of birds, invertebrates, and plants that could not be found anywhere else on earth. Since the introduction of rats, pigs, dogs, mongoose and many non-native species of plants, over half the bird species and snail species have gone extinct. (Otten)


Excessive application of chemicals by farmers or spills and leaks of petroleum products and toxic substances by other users kill soil organisms. Soil is a complex living food web, where a variety of organisms interact to process organic matter, recycle nutrients, and nurture plants. Please use organic fertilizers and organic methods for pest management.

According to soil scientist Elaine Ingham at Oregon State University, just one gram of healthy agricultural soil contains around 100 yards of threadlike fungal material, 100 million bacteria, tens of thousands of one-celled organisms called protozoa, and up to 2000 tiny worms called nematodes. Growth of plants depends upon the presence of these microorganisms, which interact to retain nutrients and make nitrogen available. Higher up the food chain are the springtails and mites that prey on fungi. Larger still are the earthworms, ants, termites, millipedes, and beetles that fragment the organic debris, aerate the soil, and form channels for infiltration of water.

If you want healthier plants then support your soil food web by putting organic matter, which increases the population of beneficial soil organisms, in your soil medium. Please support the fight against soil quality and erosion by visiting http://www.basic-info-4-organic-fertilizers.com/soilorganisms.html where you can find lots of detail information about the kinds of beneficial soil organisms.

Source

Watching a 9-11 documentary on NGC last week, I happened to catch this short snippet. Check it out.



-AML