HACKED BY YHOYO
HACKED BY YHOYO AT #STELKERS@DALNET
YOU HAVE BUG IN news.php fix it
PermaLink

HACKED BY Anak Buah Yoyo
HACKED BY Anak buah Yoyo AT #STELKERS@DALNET
YOU HAVE BUG IN news.php fix it
PermaLink

One Biologist's Socio-Economic Approach to Wildlife Conservation
By Lili DeBarbieri

Conservation, like the global economy these days, is typically marred by dismal reports of melting glaciers, vanishing ecosystems and mounting pollution. Occasionally, however, there are glimmers of hope.

In 1996, Pan Wenshi, China's premier panda biologist, began a study of the highly endangered langurs of Chongzuo, Guangxi province. At the time, the langur's population had dropped from an estimated 2,000 individuals in the late 1980s to fewer than 500 a decade later, mostly due to hunting pressures. Dr. Pan recognized that tackling larger social and economic issues jeopardizing the species was essential for the langur's long-term survival.

In an effort to secure public support for langur conservation, Dr. Pan raised money for a new school in another village, oversaw the construction of health clinics in two neighboring towns, and organized physical checkups for women throughout the area.

Unfortunately, villagers were still dependent on the reserve's trees - the langurs' primary habitat and sole food source - for fuel. In 2000, with a $12,500 environmental award from Ford Motor Company, Dr. Pan built biogas digesters to provide cooking fuel for roughly 1,000 people. Today, 95 percent of the human population living just outside the reserve use biogas for their daily power needs. As a result, the park's number and diversity of trees has increased significantly, as has the langur population, which numbers at more than 500 today - up from 96 in 1996.

Unfortunately, conservation success stories are often the exception and not the rule. A new conservation "report card" has found that one in four of the world's 5,487 known mammal species face extinction. The assessment, done as part of the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN's) Red List of Threatened Species, took more than 1,700 experts from 130 countries five years to complete.

Human-induced habitat loss, pollution, and hunting continue to put pressure on already at-risk species. Some of the most threatened are found in Asia, a region undergoing rapid human population and economic growth. Currently, 79 percent of Asia's primate species face extinction, making Dr. Pan's work in langur conservation all the more extraordinary in comparison.

However, according to the report, five percent of threatened species have seen rebounds due to focused conservation efforts. Perhaps the simple act of helping locals overcome daily living challenges impacting these species will become an important part of many more wildlife conservation programs.
PermaLink

Portrait of a Conservation Comeback: The Mongolian Takhi
By Samantha Chen

Forty years ago, the world's last species of truly wild horse - the Takh, commonly known as Przewalski's horse - could no longer be found in the wild. Now, thanks to worldwide conservation initiatives, Takhi once again roam the steppes of their native Mongolia in Hustai National Park.

Takhi disappeared from the wild due to an increase in human population, which led to habitat competition from people and livestock as well as over-hunting for horsemeat. By 1968, Takhi had become extinct in the wild in Mongolia, and only about 150 individuals remained in zoos around the world. Over time, the surviving Takhi became increasingly domesticated and inbred.

To save the species from what looked like inevitable extinction, the FPPPH (Foundation for the Preservation and Protection of the Przewalski's Horse) and FRPH (Foundation Reserves for the Przewalski's Horse) in the Netherlands came together to select a new habitat for the horses and reintroduce them back into the wild. The criteria for the new habitat included year-round availability of natural water sources, food, shelter, and a well-balanced ecosystem.

In 1992, in partnership with the FPPPH, MACNE (Mongolian Association for Conservation of Nature and Environment) and the Mongolian government selected Hustai National Park as the new habitat for the reintroduction of wild Takhi. After two years of acclimatization in 1994, 16 Takhi were released in the wild for the first time in 26 years to range free on the Mongolia steppe. Ten years later, the Takhi population had increased to 150; today, that number is nearly 200.

Horses have long been symbols of strength and courage in Mongolia, and the return of the Takhi has been a source of national pride. With its abundant wildlife, 450 species of flora and dramatic steppe landscapes, Hustai National Park attracts eco-tourists, volunteers, and researchers from all over the world. The Takhi project has also afforded biologists unprecedented opportunities to study the Takhi in the wild.
PermaLink