Biodiversity and Habitat
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NEWS

The stories listed below, gathered from web-based news sources, provide developments related to this chapter that have occurred since publication.

Environmental degradation aggravated by loss of traditional knowledge, WWF says
WWF / ENN: November 23, 2000
GLAND, SWITZERLAND - A new report and a unique map released today by WWF, the conservation organization, show that the world's most biodiverse areas are inhabited by high concentrations of native cultures, and warn that the loss of traditional languages and knowledge may lead to further environmental degradation.

Population Density, Growth Threaten Species-rich "Hotspots"
PAI: February 7, 2000
More than 1.1 billion people live within the 25 most species-rich and environmentally threatened areas of the world, according to a new report by Population Action International (PAI). The report documents the historical impact of population growth on biological diversity on a global scale, with
special attention to the current situation in these 25 "biodiversity hotspots." (This press release includes a link to the report itself.)

Web of life must be mended, report says
By Margot Higgins, ENN News
Wednesday, April 19, 2000 
A new report on biodiversity has been released, based on an analysis undertaken by  World Resources Institute, the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Bank. It argues that earth's capacity to sustain diverse life and support world economies is directly dependent on the health of major ecosystems, and that these systems have been damaged by several decades of rapidly expanding human impacts.

USGS tracks biological resource trends
ENN June 25, 1999 
Land use, water use and non-indigenous, or nonnative, species are the three factors that have the greatest broad-scale effects on biological resources in the United States, according to a recent U.S. Geological Survey report. 

Issue 8.1: The Mass Extinction of Freshwater Mussels
Toxic algae returns to Lake Erie
ENN June 3, 1999 
Microcystis, a blue-green algae that is harmful to humans and deadly to plants and fish, has returned to a small area of western Lake Erie after a 10-year absence. Researchers are examining whether the reappearance of Microcystis might be associated with the recent arrival of zebra mussels, a non-native species that was introduced to Lake Erie from Russia in 1986. 

Black-striped mussels threaten Australia
ENN April 22, 1999 
Australia may be on the brink of a marine pest infestation that is eerily similar to the zebra mussel invasion that caused tremendous economic and ecological damage to the North American Great Lakes system.

Issue 8.2: Ecotourism: Loving Wild Places to Death
Amazon adventure: Ecotour lodges saving a Brazilian river basin
Abigail Rome (ENN)  June 7, 1999 
The island community of Silves, 180 miles east of Manaus in Brazil's Amazon Basin, is one of a growing number of communities in Brazil embracing ecotourism and biodiversity conservation as a means to securing a healthy future.


 
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H O M E
Exploitation, Conservation, Preservation
A Geographic Perspective on Natural Resource Use
Susan L. Cutter and William H. Renwick
Web site by James Hayes-Bohanan
Return to Chapter 8