It is estimated that there are 10-30 million species worldwide (primarily plants and insects), and approximately 70% occur in our tropics.  Only 1.7 million species have been described by science.  About 200 plant species are discovered annually in Africa alone and hundreds of new insect species are discovered each year.

Extinction is a natural process that normally occurs at a rate of about 2-25 species per year.  However due to to human activities this rate is rapidly accelerating.  The present rate of extinction is estimated to be over 10,000 species per year; more than 28 species per day!

Habitat destruction is the primary human-induced cause if extinction. The Earth's original rain forests have been reduced by about 50%, being cleared for lumber and farmland, and remaining forests are shrinking by approximately 11 million hectares per year.  Other factors contributing to the escalating extinction rate include pollution (e.g., pesticides chlorofluorocarbons, heavy metals, acid precipitation), overexploitation through hunting and collecting practices, mostly NOT for food, and introduced exotic species to support our ever-increasing  human population.

Why worry about it?  The global decline in biodiversity affects us all in multiple ways.  Certainly there are aesthetic, moral and non-economic reasons for individuals to support habitat and species preservation projects.  However, there are also many practical reasons for maintaining species biodiversity because we depend on other species to support our ever-increasing human population.

        Some of the ways biodiversity serves humans include:

ecosystem services - other species clean the air and water for us; foods - we depend on less than 1% of living species for our existence and we need new food sources; biological control of pests - insects parasitoids offer an alternative to the use of pesticides; medicines - 40% of medicines come from plants; other species may provide future cures for diseases including cancer; chemical and energy - new sources of oils, paper pulp, methane, and other materials can be identified recreation - ecotourism offers incentives for under developed nations to conserve their biological resources

The fields of wildlife research, conservation, and medicine will continue to increase in importance as our ever-expanding human population puts more pressures on the environment.  Zoonotic diseases and disease transmission between domestic livestock and wildlife will demand the attention of individuals trained in these fields. Advances in technology affect our world in many ways, and few environmental health problems have simple cause-effect relationships.

Governmental, scientific, medical, and community-based groups need to work together to address conservation issues. The CWCR helps coordinate collaborative endeavors among member institutions and individuals through development of such cooperative relationships.  We encourage you to “Think Globally and Act Locally”!