Analyzing Loss of Biodiversity

Loss of Biodiversity Biodiversity Loss and Mitigation This essay will discuss the environmental citizenship concept and the different theoretical debates in the context of loss of biodiversity as well as its mitigation: In our society, the life of human beings and business management have their foundation on a multitude of benefits from ecosystems -- many blessings of nature that come from natural assets such as water, air, soil, animals and plants.

To continue benefitting from these natural assets, preservation of biodiversity is very important; however, there is a lot damage taking place on biodiversity and unfortunately, the rate at which it is happening is alarming ("Biodiversity Conservation - Environment - Sustainability - About Us - Panasonic," n.d.) mostly due to large scale globalization that engenders mass production, often at the cost of biodiversity. Therefore, it is expected that corporate enterprises should see to the conservation and sustainability of resources.

Environmental and Ecological Citizenship We are all part of a bigger ecosystem and we should all act responsibly towards matters that affect our environment for the sake of our future. This idea is known as Environmental Citizenship. We should make changes in our day-to-day lives so that we are environmental citizens all the time (Environmental Citizenship, 2001). The idea of environmental citizenship was conceived in Environment Canada, and has now spread to other parts of the world.

The idea can be compared to that of environmental stewardship in the Judaic, Islam and Christian traditions although it is related to cultural tradition or religious group. Ecological and environmental citizenship ideas increased rapidly in the early 1990s emanating in response to the environment-protection movement goals. At the beginning, such debates were restricted to certain subsections in political theory (political ecology and citizenship studies) but they have gained popularity and appeal making it a mainstream consideration.

Books and magazines about organic gardening, architecture that does not have negative effects on the environment and 'do-it-yourself' books can now be found in bookshops and newsstands. It seems that everyone is ready to do their part for the environment through solar panels, green bags, recycling and even showerheads that reduce the use of hot water to save energy. One would think that Australia was protecting the ecosystems adequately considering how much public attention environmental issues received.

However, a closer look on the record that Australia has on environmental issues reveals something quite different. As far as environmental issues are concerned, the recent decades have seen a backward move with issues such as depletion of fresh water, use of private vehicles, disposable plastics and gases emitted from greenhouses. This is happening despite the large number of magazines and books about environmental conservation, reusable bags, devices that save water and energy and even increased awareness on using eco-friendly items.

We should try to see where we have gone wrong and whether the damage that continues to be done on the environment can be rectified. Public Participation in the Conservation of the Environment Without accessing enough information on the environment, it is hard to participate in making decisions about the environment. The Aarhus Convention 1998, recognizes this right as a key pillar in the promotion of the participation of the public (Environmental Citizenship 2001).

Information that public bodies hold on water, air, land, soil, animals, plants, noise, energy, emissions, waste and the identity of polluters is considered Environmental information. For instance, vigorous protests were staged against the restrictions that the Dhauladhar Wildlife Sanctuary in Himachal Pradesh in India was imposing, causing the locals to start protection drives of the forests in the area.

This paper examines how opposition from the locals has been caught in values as well as practices relating to the environment to an extent where a women's group decided to develop a system to manage the forests in the sanctuary voluntarily (Fischer & Chhatre, 2013). This case will be used to highlight a couple main themes that are likely to transform the conservation practice in the future.

The Difference between Environmental Citizenship and Ecological Citizenship In the early 1990s, there were concerns on issues about the ecology and increased interest and attention on citizenship. These coalesced and gave rise to ecological and environmental citizenship. In general, emphasizing on ecology would result to special importance on the value that ecosystems naturally have and even radical action. On the other hand, emphasis on the environment prioritizes the needs of human beings and places emphasis on reformism.

The terms ecological citizenship and environmental citizenship are often used interchangeably, but this essay will focus on how environmental citizenship (centered on humans, reformists) is manifested. It is pertinent to draw attention to the difference between the civic republican and liberal conceptualizations of citizenship before giving a summary of the movement of environmental citizenship in public discussions. The liberal concepts of citizenship place emphasis on rights bestowed to citizens by the legal system, individualism, voluntarism and making personality, activity and commitment to be private.

There is a lot of emphasis on the protection of freedom of individuals -- from being coerced by other citizens and even the state that bestows such rights. On the other hand, the notions of Civic republican citizenship have civic virtue, public spirit, participation, inclusiveness, and common good as their priorities. Civic citizenship can be said to be about participating actively in matters of the public, while Liberal Citizenship has often been described as being passive and is more focused on the private sphere (Reiner n.d.).

Rallies, protests, campaigns to create public awareness, civil disobedience and other forms of environmental activism fit the definition of what can be called 'environmental citizenship' in a civil republican form. Various commentators (John Barry and Peter Christoff) have emphasized how effective these practices are in improving the public's understanding of environmental issues and ensuring their active participation in the public domain. To get a better understanding of the meaning of ecological or environmental citizenship one should briefly look into the larger debate on how modern citizenship is constructed.

The convincing critique by Bryan Turner of the Concept of Citizenship by T.H. Marshall synthesizes its changing extent and sustained relevance. According to Turner, Citizenship is a main constituent towards social solidarity and integration. He placed emphasis on the role that social conflict and struggles have played in the creation of citizenship and its preservation. Turner noted that because of globalization, national boundaries have lost much importance around citizenship (Flynn, et.al, 2008). In the critique, he delved further to emphasize that social rights were the main thing.

Many writers have however noted that social scientists have unfortunately, not paid enough attention to the importance of environmental issues and ecological risks. Sociology was criticized by Newby (1991), Dickens (1992) and Beck (1995) from different points-of-view for neglecting the natural physical environment. Each of them urged it to overcome the generally accepted dichotomy of 'nature/society'. Barry (2007) suggested approaching nature and the environment in a 'relational' way, arguing that social theory 'greening' involves more awareness on the extent of ecological embeddedness and the biological nature of human bodies.

He also realized that the endurance of systems and processes was traceable from a similar approach: one should have an orientation on the future and feel obligated to the future generations in order to be concerned about nature and the environment. Ecological System and Sustainability According to Yearley's (2005) argument, there have been limitations on ideas addressing sustainable living since they ignore the sociological analysis on how a sustainable life is constituted.

He admitted that there is a tendency of being preoccupied with technical questions about the environment as well as economic arrangements since sustainable development is usually defined as dealing with the current needs without putting at risk the ability of the generations to meet and solve their needs. Consequently, social institutions and cultural practices have generally been neglected (Flynn, et.al, 2008).

Yearly claims that that the important questions concerning sustainability and environmentalism are the ones that touch on social order, and issues of equity as well as distribution and how much actions people take the around those issues. Using energy resources as an example, he points out a lot of research has been conducted on conservation of energy and finding new ways of production of energy as well as some attributes of the behavior of consumers.

However, there is little debate on the questions of how people view the possession, use and trading of energy both as a resource for social use and a commodity. In his recent writing, Dobson (2003) has discussed the importance of these issues extensively. He observed that the current problems affecting the environment are no longer limited to state and country boundaries. Due to globalization, there are newly developed ecological asymmetries in states and between them.

Thereby, he pointed out a distinction between environmental citizenship model, which emphasizes on rights and entitlements and an ecological citizenship model, which puts emphasis on responsibilities and duties which are mainly based on obligations. He claims that both are valid and complement each other with the aim of achieving a sustainable society. Ecological citizenship aims at achieving distribution of ecological resources in a just manner. Dobson et al. (2005) strengthen these arguments further.

They suggest that ecological citizenship should be founded on the realization that sustainability demands being committed to the concept of the benefit of everyone. This will require major changes in behavior and attitudes in practice. Bell (2006) points out that environmental citizenship derives from the concept of liberal citizenship consisting of the basic environmental rights and responsibilities (Flynn, et.al, 2008). These rights do not simply include environmental commodities such as clean water and air, but also cover the procedural right of inclusion in making decisions concerning the environment.

The Duties include responsibilities to adhere to environmental laws while justifying lifestyle choices that have an effect on the environment. Biodiversity and Environmental Citizenship Biodiversity is a major component of environmental citizenship. The variety of life on Earth and the biological diversity in which it is found is commonly termed as biodiversity. The different species of animals, plants and microorganisms and the huge differences in their genetic compositions are part of biodiversity. The various ecosystems existing on earth such as coral reefs, rainforests and deserts form the biologically diverse planet.

Strategies to conservation and development acknowledge that this should be constituted in any approach (Shah, 2014). Most cultures have recognized the significance that nature as well as its biological variety has on them and why its maintenance is important. However, this delicate and uncertain balance has been affected by greed, politics, and power. What is the importance of Biodiversity? Does the existence of many species matter that much? Biodiversity boosts the productivity of the ecosystem since each species, regardless of its size, have a significant part to play.

For instance, more plant species translate to more crop varieties; more diversity of species guarantees the sustainability of nature for all living things; and it is easier for healthy ecosystems to withstand and even recover from various disasters. Although humans dominate the earth, they should preserve the diversity that exists in wildlife. The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was formed at the UN Conference on Environment and Development (the Earth Summit) in 1992. 192 nations together with the European Union make up the parties of the convention.

In April 2002, those parties promised to reduce biodiversity loss significantly by the year 2010. However, this goal was not achieved (Shah, 2014). Although many successful measures on conservation of biodiversity have been taken, the biodiversity goals of 2010 have not been achieved at a global level. At this juncture, biodiversity can be termed as the loss of diversity in species, habitat and genetics and the attempts to counter known human impact on them.

Sufficient action has not been taken to see to the implementation of the Convention on Biodiversity and deal with the pressures it is facing in areas of concern (Shah, 2011). Enough incorporation of biodiversity issues into wider policies, programs and strategies has not been done and the factors that lead to the loss of biodiversity have not been addressed as they should. Compared to industrial and infrastructure developments, actions that promote biodiversity do not receive enough funding.

There have been limitations on actions to look into the factors responsible for the loss of biodiversity in such as socio-political, technological, cultural and economical pressures. Although protected areas cover 12 per cent or more land, 44 per cent eco-regions have protection lower than 10 per cent and most of the sites in a disastrous, depleted stage are not included in the protected region. Among the protected areas that have been assessed in terms of management effectiveness, 13 per cent were found inadequate.

'Sound' management was seen in little over 20 per cent while the rest were ranked as 'basic'. The Concept of Biodiversity in Economic terms Despite some people not liking the idea of describing biodiversity in terms of economic value, it has been attempted so that they can understand how serious the issue is: the importance of the environment to humanity and the benefits as well as consequences of taking action.

Supported by the UN and certain governments in Europe, The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) is an organization that attempts to create, build and make an economic case that will evoke interest about biodiversity and ecosystem conservation (Shah, 2011). Part 2/Case Study Report Introduction: This case study is about conserving marine ecology through the monitoring of biodiversity and whale sharks in the Arabian Gulf. Located in the central area of the gulf, the Al Shaheen oil field is Qatar's biggest offshore oilfield.

It produces 300,000 barrels of oil daily, a third of the total oil production in Qatar by approximation. The operation of the oilfield is done by Maersk Oil Qatar in representation of Qatar Petroleum, its partner (Promoting the conservation of marine ecology by monitoring whale sharks and biodiversity in the Arabian Gulf). Platform staff were the first to make observations that the area could have a diverse and rich ecosystem clearly shown by the presence of the largest group of whale sharks, scientifically known as Rhincodon typus, in the world.

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species lists the whale shark as a vulnerable animal. Maersk Oil has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Qatar's Ministry of Environment towards conservation efforts in this regard. This Memorandum of Understanding serves the purpose of an umbrella agreement for the purpose of conducting studies on biodiversity and promoting marine ecology conservation in Qatari waters. Background/Purpose: The location of Al Shaheen is an estimated 80 km to the north east from Qatar's northern tip. This is the biggest offshore oilfield the country has.

Maersk Oil does the oil extraction on behalf of Qatar Petroleum, its partner. The production of oil is carried out from 9 platform locations. Storage and offloading is done at two floating storage and offloading units, the largest on the planet. Due to a combination of factors such as strong currents, high temperatures and high loads of nutrients, the Arabian Gulf's central part is a supportive and hence productive marine environment (Promoting the conservation of marine ecology by monitoring whale sharks and biodiversity in the Arabian Gulf).

Platform staff were the first to observe that there is a rich marine ecosystem in the area evidenced by the presence of the largest groups of whale sharks. Whale sharks can be 15 meters long or more and can weigh as much as 20 tons. Maersk Oil created a Research and Technology Centre (MO-RTC) to enhance the process of oil recovery and reduce the effects on marine environment. The centre has a budget of over $100 million over a period of 10 years.

Provision of a monitoring programme for a long-term is the main aim of Qatar Whale Shark Research Project (QWSRP). This will assist in providing a good description of the population of the whale shark and the marine ecology that is in the Qatari Waters.

Analysis: The Director of MO-RTC, Abdulrahman Al Emadi explains why he thinks it is a good idea to assign the resources of his centre to study the whale sharks: the platforms of the oilfield have transformed into artificial coral reefs over time thus attracting different species of marine life. The platforms as well as the unique currents make the oilfield unique as far as biodiversity is concerned (Documenting The Ocean's Gentle Giants).

Al Emadi adds that monitoring marine life without being limited to the whale sharks and modeling currents will improve the understanding of how they work. The research at MO-RTC purposes to help extraction of oil in a sustainable manner, and to help achieve the Qatar National Vision 2030. The whale sharks are now seen as a symbol of importance of environmental preservation at Maersk Oil. It is hoped that in the future the whole region will identify with them.

To conduct their research, QWSRP uses various ways to spot, trace and even obtain samples. Despite the size of the whale sharks, this can be hard to find at times. Boats are used to deploy divers to obtain DNA samples and photographs of the sharks. They use the distinctive and unique spot patterns that are on their backs behind the shark's dorsal fins and then document the size of the sharks.

To trace the movements of the sharks, tags are placed on them, to enable continuous monitoring through satellite, to collect information about how they move even when they go deeper or when they swim near underwater beacons. After some time, the tags are taken off and are collected for study (Documenting The Ocean's Gentle Giants 2014). Despite starting investigations only in 2011, the QWSP team has already gotten a fairly clear picture about whale sharks. There are fragile, susceptible ecosystems in the seas and whale sharks contribute to this greatly.

The research being conducted in Qatari waters, MoE laboratories in which the samples are taken for examination, and MO-RTC analysis of data and plans of future research are done, has played a key role in ensuring that the whale sharks in Qatar will be protected and not hunted down or mutilated. The information collected will play a major role in safeguarding the future and continuity of the.