Beautiful Nature: Biodiversity And Actions For Change

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2013, Claudia Lewis, Plan C Initiative, Carlos L. de la Rosa, Catalina Island Conservancy, "The Youth Guide to Biodiversity" 1st Edition (Chapter 12) Youth and United Nations Global Alliance. Reproduced with permission.

Chapter 12. Verbatim.

Hermit crab.

© Alex Marttunen (age 12)

In the previous chapter we looked at how individuals and groups affect biodiversity. In this chapter wewill answer several important questions about the ways in which the world deals with the biodiversitychallenge. For example:

•• the different ways that biodiversity can be addressed at the international level;

•• what actions can be taken at the national level, and how they are linked to grassroots actions;

•• why grassroots actions, (actions undertaken by individuals or groups not associated withgovernment) are essential to conserving biodiversity;

•• how youth can help to bridge actions at the local, national and international levels.

Biodiversity Knows No Borders

The lines that divide countries on a map have no meaning to forest trees or roaming wildlife. These borders only become important when they turn into barriers or obstacles for biodiversity. For example, migratory herds in and around the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania and the Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya make an extraordinary annual journey across national borders. How these two countries manage their borders and lands can mean life or death for the migrating herds of wildebeests and many other species that are either migratory or whose home ranges include lands on both sides of the border.

It is crucial that countries, as well as the communities within each country, reach agreements on a myriad of matters such as land use policies, exploitation of natural resources, pollution prevention, hunting regulations, water use and many other things, in order to preserve the biodiversity they share.