Billions of people worldwide rely on some 50,000 wild species for food, energy, medicine and income, according to a sweeping new scientific report that concluded humans must make drastic changes to hunting and other practices to tackle an accelerating biodiversity crisis. .
The report, prepared for the United Nations over four years by 85 experts from 33 countries, is the most comprehensive look yet at ways to use wild species sustainably, or ways that don’t lead to the loss of those resources. in the long term and ensures that they are available for future generations. It is based on thousands of scientific studies and other references, including a large amount of indigenous and local knowledge. Indigenous and poor communities are among the most directly affected by wild species overuse, the report said.
“Half of humanity is taking advantage of and using wild species, and often without even knowing they do,” said Marla R. Emery, one of the co-chairs of the assessment, which was conducted by the Intergovernmental Sciences Association. Policy platform on biodiversity and ecosystem services. A summary was approved Thursday in Bonn, Germany, by representatives of 139 countries, including the United States, and the full report was due to be published within months.
But the focus of this latest review has been to provide a more optimistic view of how wild species can be sustainably used by people around the world, said Jean-Marc Fromentin, also one of the co-chairs.
One-third of the wild species that humans use in some way that are also on the “red list” — listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature — experienced stable or increasing population trends despite human use , according to a study cited in the report. This suggests that “the use of these particular species is not yet directly contributing to their extinction, as far as we can tell,” said Sophie Marsh, a master’s student of biodiversity at University College London and lead author of the study on endangered species, who wrote in 2021 was published.
Indigenous and local knowledge is critical to learning some of the best practices for sustainable use, the report said, but traditionally it has been underutilized. Indigenous communities have long incorporated sustainable use of wild species into their cultural practices, and an estimated 15 percent of forests worldwide are managed as “community resources,” the report said, by indigenous peoples and local communities.
The report referred to practices such as those used in the hills of the Cordillera region of Luzon, the Philippines’ largest island. There, “the entire community is mobilizing to protect the forest,” said Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, an indigenous rights activist who grew up in the region. The practice is called Batangan, a resource management system that involves a shared sense of responsibility for monitoring the diversity of the forests and planting new trees as the elderly grow older.
It’s not just about the trees, “it’s about the water, the plants and the animals, the microorganisms,” and increasingly it’s about climate change, as forests play a vital role in carbon sequestration, Ms said. Tauli-Corpuz.
The sustainable use of wild species is central to the identity and existence of many indigenous and local communities, the report said.
“When wildlife disappears, our culture, our lifestyles and our livelihoods are endangered,” said Viviana Figueroa, an Argentine indigenous lawyer and activist who participated in dialogues with the report’s authors as part of her involvement in the process. International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity. “There is still a lot of work to be done, but at least there is some recognition,” Ms Figueroa said.
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Future policy on the use of wild species will have to take into account the social and historical dimensions of sustainability and whether the benefits of that use are fairly distributed. For example, vicuña fibers, found in luxury clothing, are highly priced and produced by low-income indigenous communities in South America, who contribute to the conservation of the vicuña by allowing the animals to graze on their communal or private land.
Still, it’s “almost impossible” for a remote Andean community to negotiate with an international textile company or bring their product to international markets, the report said, meaning most of the profits from the vicuña fiber trade are captured. by traders and textile companies.
The fishing industry will need to reduce unregulated and illegal fishing, support more small-scale fishing and eliminate harmful subsidies that encourage overfishing, the report recommended. According to the report’s conclusions, the logging industry will also need to invest in technology that reduces waste in the production of wood products, and governments may need to increase bans or regulations on game meat in some regions, while assessing whether those policies will create food insecurity in those areas. can influence.
The findings of the new report could soon have a direct effect on international policy. The report was produced in part at the request of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, a treaty to ensure that global trade in plants and animals does not endanger their survival in the wild. The parties to the treaty will use the assessment’s findings to inform their trade decisions at their conference in Panama in November.
The overexploitation of wild species is not the only factor causing the decline; human-induced climate change is also an important factor, the report said. Growing human populations and consumption, along with technological advances that make many extraction practices more efficient, will also put greater pressure on wild species.
“We need to make sure that everyone benefits from these policy tools,” said Emma Archer, a professor at the University of Pretoria in South Africa and one of the lead authors of the review. “There doesn’t have to be both winners and losers.”
