Our beautiful environment has never faced as much threat of destruction as it faces in today’s modern society. Several animal and plant species face the risk of going extinct if no serious measures are taken to conserve them. Conserving wildlife is a cause everyone should be committed to ensuring the preservation of natural species and the environment. In this post, we will help you understand what wildlife conservation is, why you need to conserve wildlife, factors that endanger wildlife, the adverse effects of having an unbalanced ecosystem, and what you can do to help save wildlife.
What is Wildlife Conservation?
Wildlife conservation is simply the practice of keeping wild species and the habitats in which they live protected to prevent the extinction of endangered species. The most commonly known threats to wildlife include hunting, poaching, habitat destruction, over-exploitation, climate change, and pollution.
What A Wildlife Conservationist Does?
A wildlife conservationist is someone saddled with the responsibility of ensuring the protection and preservation of endangered wildlife species. The significant roles of a wildlife conservationist include protecting and managing the various ecosystems, such as grasslands and forests. Also, ensuring it is habitable for the plant and animal species that live in such environments. This will include keeping the habitats free from all potentially harmful insects, diseases and fire outbreaks. A wildlife conservationist also checks to make sure the water supplies are potable and that the soil is free from contamination.
How Wildlife Can Be Conserved?
Wildlife includes all faunas, floras, and microorganisms that are not domesticated. To conserve wildlife, the government must make laws and regulations guarding wildlife and prohibiting the hunting, poaching, and over-exploitation of wildlife. New laws guarding the cutting of trees should be enacted and the old rules reemphasised.
Why Wildlife Conservation is Important?
Wildlife Conservation is essential because it helps balance the ecosystem. Also, conserving wildlife can be a great way to ensure adequate food supplies for future generations.
Why Wildlife is Endangered?
Wildlife comes under threat from several factors. The craze for industrial development is one of the primary cause of endangering wildlife. As, forests are cleared to make way for the planting of new industries, several plants, and animal species are lost in the processes. One other factor that endangers wildlife is unchecked and unregulated hunting. Some people target certain species due to their nutritional, medicinal or nutritional values, thereby threatening the continued existence of such species.
Causes of Unbalanced Ecosystem
Several factors are responsible fit the ecological imbalance we see today. Some major causes of an unbalanced ecosystem include:
1. Farming activities
Some farming activities such as hunting, bush clearing, and fishing have been found to help keep the natural ecosystem protected. Bush burning, which many farmers practice before planting also contributes to the destruction of natural vegetation around farmlands.
2. Deforestation
As trees are cut down without planting new ones, the natural ecosystem suffers a great deal of imbalance.
3. Globalisation and Industrialisation
The drive to build more industries and new housing are destroying more natural habitat, thus deepening the imbalance in the ecosystem.
4. Natural Disasters
Some natural disasters, like over flooding, landslides, earthquakes, forest fires, hurricanes, etc., can further worsen the imbalance in our ecosystem.
5. Climate Change
Factors associated with climate change such as global warming, greenhouse effects can also affect the ecosystem.
What Happens When There Is An Imbalance In The Ecosystem?
Anything that affects the balance in the ecosystem affects all living organisms, including man. Here are some common effects of an unbalanced ecosystem:
1. Disruption of the food chain with the extinction of a specific plant or animal species
2. Frequent flooding as a result of erosion and an inadequate number of trees.
3. Increased atmospheric temperatures with less number of trees to trap CO2.
4. Loss of beautiful biodiversity with the disappearance of several species as a result of deforestation and other factors.
How To Save Endangered Wildlife
To save endangered wildlife, here are some steps to take:
1. Create Awareness
It is vital to create awareness and let everyone know about the endangered species and the need to preserve them.
2. Grow Local Plant Species
Growing local plants will help provide food and shelter for native species like butterflies, ants, and bees.
3. Reduce Your Use of Pesticides and Herbicides
Pesticides are herbicides that are pollutants that can damage native wildlife and affect the ecosystem. You can use natural weed and pest control methods to reduce pollution.
4. Volunteer Your Time
You can become a volunteer to help take care of endangered species and create awareness of the need to conserve wildlife.
5. Making sure the ware resources are not affected by pollution
Water is the building block of all living beings. Thus, we should take measure to protect the water resources and control pollution.
Also, avoid dumping chemicals and toxic substances in waterways.
We do not have any other planet or environment to call our own. Protecting our environment and sustaining our biodiversity requires our collective efforts. Preventing wildlife extinction requires all hands to be on deck to save endangered species from extinction.