IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Sheikh, K.M.; Molur, S. | |
| Status and Red List of Pakistan's Mammals based on the Pakistan Mammal Conservation Assessment & Management Plan Workshop 18-22 August 2003 | |
| 2004 Full Book | |
Biological diversity or biodiversity refers to the variety of life forms: the different plants, animals and microorganisms, the genes they contain, and the ecosystems they form. Biodiversity is reduced when people modify ecosystems and destroy habitats of plants and animals. Scientists agree that the world's animals and plants are becoming extinct far faster than is historically normal and that collectively their loss will have grave consequences for humanity and conservation of biodiversity is a major concern throughout the world today. It is crucial to safeguard what remains of our biodiversity resources from the increasingly consumptive lifestyle and escalating urbanization overtaking countries and their wild areas. Unplanned human growth and settlements throughout the world are causing enormous pressure on wild resources. The earth is estimated to have millions of species of which only 1.5 million have been described. Due to population growth and increasing rate of consumption, the natural wealth of our planet is being lost at an estimated rate of 5 % per decade. This is a tragic loss to the biological wealth of our planet for ethical, aesthetic, economic as well as for ecological reasons. The alarming loss of habitats and species, and the ecosystem processes dependent on them has stimulated conservationists around the globe to share knowledge and resources to document and monitor in an attempt to reverse the planet's declining wealth. Preparing effective and safe programmes for conservation of species and ecosystems requires reliable data, dependable information sources and strategic planning are urgently required. Unfortunately in the developing world, due to economic struggle and competition for a better lifestyle impacts the priorities for environment and biodiversity conservation could not find satisfactory direction in recent decades. As a result, enormous loss of biodiversity has occurred. Another problem is lack of consistent approach and reliability in the departments and institutions working to collect firsthand information for the conservation prioritization process. Lack of adequate financial resources and trained personnel is another weak area for slow progress in biological assessments and conservation prioritization process. Pakistan has no tradition of methodical and systematic data collection or of analyzing, assimilating or handling it for designing future conservation priorities. If we wait to develop such methodology before taking conservation action, it may be too late; therefore, we have relied on the best available information sources with the existing agencies and individuals at this time. To start the assessment process, mammals are selected in the first case for their charisma and major role in the functioning of the ecosystems. Mammals also needed prioritization because of increasing human pressures and intrudence in the wild habitats. To work on developing a list of the threatened mammals of Pakistan, the C.A.M.P. process was selected for its practical approach which is based on the premises of using the best currently available data sources, striving for a consensus among participants, validating output by review. This process will enable us to bring together sufficient data to design conservation priorities in specific sectors of flora and fauna'. |
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