Current news headlines primarily concentrate on the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio, the flood control imbroglio, the International Criminal Court brouhaha, and the Senate debacle. However, one topic that appears to lack interest among Filipinos is biodiversity.
Unknowingly, biodiversity – the ecosystem, species, and genes that together make life on earth both pleasant and possible – is collapsing at nothing less than mind-boggling rates.
“It might be difficult to accept, yet mass extinction has already started, and the Filipino community seems to be ignoring it. A significant number of our natural heritage will be lost if immediate action is not taken,” deplores Jethro P. Adang, the director of the Mindanao Baptist Rural Life Center (MBRLC) Foundation, Inc.
A group of esteemed American biologists has described the crisis of species extinction as “a threat to civilization second only to the threat of nuclear war.” This indicates that the consequences could be so devastating that they might lead to the collapse of human civilization and endanger the survival of humanity.
The Geneva-based Worldwide Fund for Nature estimates there are on Earth at least 30 million species, of which “all but a few thousand are at risk.” Less than two million species have been studied by man. Yet, over a thousand, maybe 10,000 more, are being lost each year, mostly unseen and unrecorded.
Plant species number only a quarter of a million, and vertebrates less than 50,000, according to studies. Mammals and birds, however, are principal concerns of conservation efforts more than with invertebrates. In Davao City, the Philippine Eagle Center is trying to save the country’s bird icon from vanishing in this part of the world.
It doesn’t mean that invertebrates or those animals that lack a backbone and comprise over 90% of all known animal species, are not equally important. They are also essential for their ecological services like pollination (example: bees).
Harvard biologist Edward O. Wilson estimates that nearly 140 species each day are condemned to extinction.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has reported that around 48,600 species are classified as threatened with extinction from a total of more than 172,620 species evaluated. This accounts for approximately 28% of all species that have been assessed. The actual number of species in danger is probably an underestimate, given that only a limited portion of the total known species has undergone assessment.
“Of all the global problems that confront us, species extinction is one that is moving the most rapidly and the one that will have the most serious consequences,” contends Dr. Peter Raven, a noted American biologist.
Unlike other global ecological problems, Dr. Raven stressed, the crisis is completely irreversible. “Extinction is forever,” deplores the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.
The UN food agency admits that the loss of species is not new. It cites the fate of the dinosaurs. “The disappearance of species in past eras has occurred by virtue of natural process,” it says.
Habitat conversion and degradation, overexploitation, introduction of exotics, and creation of monocultures. These are the immediate causes behind the loss of biodiversity, FAO says. “In most instances, these causes often occur in combination,” it adds.
Professor Norman Myers, a consultant to several UN agencies, believes the biggest threat comes from deforestation. Eighty percent of the planet’s land animals and plants live in forests, and deforestation threatens them.
“Removing trees deprives the forest of portions of its canopy, which blocks the sun’s rays during the day and retains heat at night,” National Geographic explains. “That disruption leads to more extreme temperature swings that can be harmful to plants and animals.”
The Philippines, because of its many islands, has one of the world’s most unique and diverse species. Thousands of species and subspecies of flora and fauna comprise the archipelago’s wildlife resources.
According to the Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB), a line agency of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Philippines has more than 2,500 endemic flora and fauna species, excluding insects and other invertebrates.
“The Philippines has tremendous wildlife resources,” wrote Jesus B. Alvarez Jr. in a 1981 position paper. “We have unique and beautiful birds which are in great demand, both here and abroad. We also have rare interesting mammals. Most outstanding are the tamaraw and the Philippine eagle which could be placed alongside the world’s finest species.”
Unfortunately, many of the country’s endemic flora and fauna are on the verge of extinction.
“A few decades ago, the wildlife of the Philippines was notable for its abundance; now, it is notable for its variety; if the present trend of destruction continues, Philippine wildlife will be notable for its absence,” commented Dr. Lee Talbot, who was once a member of the Southeast Asia Project on Wildlife Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.
Noted Filipino wildlife expert Dioscoro Rabor echoed the same sentiment. “It is about time that we, Filipinos, stop making ourselves internationally blind to the real status of our wildlife resources,” he said. “We should face the fact that our country is no longer rich in forests and consequently, of wildlife which used to be a normal component of our forests.”
A species is considered extinct when it is no longer found in the past 50 years. Endangered species are those that have been reduced in number to a critical level or whose habitats have been damaged, altered, or reduced.
Rare species have small world populations. Usually, they are restricted to very few habitats. At present, rare species are not considered endangered but at risk. Threatened, on the other hand, is a general term used to describe the animal or plant species which could be in the status of “endangered” and “insufficiently unknown.”
The Convention for International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES) has listed almost 50 wildlife species in the country that are rare, threatened, or endangered. Among those that are included in the list are five marine turtles, two crocodile species, the Philippine eagle, tamaraw, and dugongs.
“Once these species are gone, they are gone forever, leaving behind an imbalance in ecology and beauty difficult to determine and restore,” observed a committed Filipino environmentalist. –
