sábado, 21 de enero de 2012
Save Tigers Now
PROBLEM
A century ago there were 100,000 tigers roaming the forests, swamps, and tundra of Asia. TODAY, there are as few as 3,200 left in the wild. Only 7% of historic tiger habitat still contains tigers.
At this rate, wild tigers will be extinct in just a few decades.
Illegal Trade
Consumer demand for tiger parts poses the largest threat to tiger survival. Tigers are being hunted to extinction by poachers for their skins, bones, teeth and claws, which are highly valued for their use in traditional Asian medicine (TAM), various folk remedies and various products. The wildlife trade network, TRAFFIC, found that for the past two years, the smuggled parts from at least 200 tigers have been confiscated per year by law enforcement in Asia. In the past 10 years, over 1000 tigers have been killed to traffic their parts to meet consumer demand in Asia.
Demand
Tiger bones have been used in TAM for a wide variety of ailments for more than 1,000 years. In 1993 the Chinese government banned the trade and use of tiger parts, but cultural belief in the power of tiger parts remains.Parts from a single tiger can fetch as much as $50,000 on the black market, making the poaching of these magnificent creatures very alluring to criminal networks.
Claws, teeth and whiskers are believed to provide good luck and protective powers. And tiger skins and tiger bone wine are valued as status symbols.
Black Market Demand
Uses of tiger body parts in various cultures that is driving the poaching of wild tigers.
Tiger Farms
Despite the fact that all international commercial trade of tigers has been banned since 1987, some countries allow the breeding of captive tigers on a commercial scale. In many cases, products from these tigers are winding up on the black market, driving demand for tiger products from both wild and farmed sources.Recently the owners of several large tiger “farms” in China have been pressuring the government to lift the domestic trade ban and allow them to legally produce tiger products, and at least one farm was caught selling tiger bone wine and meat illegally.
Massive Habitat and Prey Loss
Less than 100 years ago, tigers roamed across most of Asia. Their territory stretched from eastern Turkey to the Russian Far East, extending northward to Siberia and southward into Bali. In a relatively short period of time, humans have caused tigers to disappear from 93% of their former range and destroyed much of their habitat.
Why has this happened? Our world’s forests are being cleared at an alarming rate and replaced by small-farmer and industrial agriculture (for products like palm oil, pulpwood for paper products, and coffee), the timber trade and general development.
The world’s forests are lost at a rate of as many as 36 football fields a minute.
In the last 25 years, the island of Sumatra (home to the Sumatran tiger) has lost 50% of its forestcover.
Extensive habitat loss and fragmentation has forced tigers to live in small, isolated pockets of remaining habitat, making it harder for tigers to reproduce. Increased road networks and reduced habitat size also leave tigers more exposed to poachers. The expansion of human activities in tiger habitat has led to overhunting of tiger prey species.Human-Tiger Conflict
As the human population grows, we are encroaching further into tiger habitat, causing increased competition between tigers and people over living space and food. Local communities surrounding tiger habitats depend on forests for firewood, fodder and timber. As habitats shrink and more people enter the forest, the number of tiger attacks is rising.Tigers are struggling to find adequate food and often end up hunting domestic livestock that local communities depend on for their livelihoods. When this happens many communities retaliate, SOMETIMES killing the offending tiger or capturing it and sending it to a zoo. Tigers killed as “conflict” animals often end up for sale in the black market.
http://www.savetigersnow.org/problem
http://www.savetigersnow.org/problem
viernes, 25 de noviembre de 2011
Marine Pollution
The oceans are so vast and deep that until fairly recently, it was widely assumed that no matter how much trash and chemicals humans dumped into them, the effects would be negligible. Proponents of dumping in the oceans even had a catchphrase: "The solution to pollution is dilution."
Today, we need look no further than the New Jersey-size dead zone that forms each summer in the Mississippi River Delta, or the thousand-mile-wide swath of decomposing plastic in the northern Pacific Ocean to see that this "dilution" policy has helped place a once flourishing ocean ecosystem on the brink of collapse.
Pollution's Many Forms
There is evidence that the oceans have suffered at the hands of mankind for millennia, as far back as Roman times. But recent studies show that degradation, particularly of shoreline areas, has accelerated dramatically in the past three centuries as industrial discharge and runoff from farms and coastal cities has increased.
Pollution is the introduction of harmful contaminants that are outside the norm for a given ecosystem. Common man-made pollutants that reach the ocean include pesticides, herbicides, chemical fertilizers, detergents, oil, sewage, plastics, and other solids. Many of these pollutants collect at the ocean's depths, where they are consumed by small marine organisms and introduced into the global food chain. Scientists are even discovering that pharmaceuticals ingested by humans but not fully processed by our bodies are eventually ending up in the fish we eat.
Many ocean pollutants are released into the environment far upstream from coastlines. Nitrogen-rich fertilizers applied by farmers inland, for example, end up in local streams, rivers, and groundwater and are eventually deposited in estuaries, bays, and deltas. These excess nutrients can spawn massive blooms of algae that rob the water of oxygen, leaving areas where little or no marine life can exist. Scientists have counted some 400 such dead zones around the world.
Solid waste like bags, foam, and other items dumped into the oceans from land or by ships at sea are frequently consumed, with often fatal effects, by marine mammals, fish, and birds that mistake it for food. Discarded fishing nets drift for years, ensnaring fish and mammals. In certain regions, ocean currents corral trillions of decomposing plastic items and other trash into gigantic, swirling garbage patches. One in the North Pacific, known as the Pacific Trash Vortex, is estimated to be the size of Texas. A new, massive patch was discovered in the Atlantic Ocean in early 2010.
Noise Pollution
Pollution is not always physical. In large bodies of water, sound waves can carry undiminished for miles. The increased presence of loud or persistent sounds from ships, sonar devices, oil rigs, and even from natural sources like earthquakes can disrupt the migration, communication, hunting, and reproduction patterns of many marine animals, particularly aquatic mammals like whales and dolphins.
End of the "Dilution" Era
Humans are beginning to see the shortsightedness of the "dilution" philosophy. Many national laws as well as international protocols now forbid dumping of harmful materials into the ocean, although enforcement can often be spotty. Marine sanctuaries are being created to maintain pristine ocean ecosystems. And isolated efforts to restore estuaries and bays have met with some success.
Today, we need look no further than the New Jersey-size dead zone that forms each summer in the Mississippi River Delta, or the thousand-mile-wide swath of decomposing plastic in the northern Pacific Ocean to see that this "dilution" policy has helped place a once flourishing ocean ecosystem on the brink of collapse.
Pollution's Many Forms
There is evidence that the oceans have suffered at the hands of mankind for millennia, as far back as Roman times. But recent studies show that degradation, particularly of shoreline areas, has accelerated dramatically in the past three centuries as industrial discharge and runoff from farms and coastal cities has increased.
Pollution is the introduction of harmful contaminants that are outside the norm for a given ecosystem. Common man-made pollutants that reach the ocean include pesticides, herbicides, chemical fertilizers, detergents, oil, sewage, plastics, and other solids. Many of these pollutants collect at the ocean's depths, where they are consumed by small marine organisms and introduced into the global food chain. Scientists are even discovering that pharmaceuticals ingested by humans but not fully processed by our bodies are eventually ending up in the fish we eat.
Many ocean pollutants are released into the environment far upstream from coastlines. Nitrogen-rich fertilizers applied by farmers inland, for example, end up in local streams, rivers, and groundwater and are eventually deposited in estuaries, bays, and deltas. These excess nutrients can spawn massive blooms of algae that rob the water of oxygen, leaving areas where little or no marine life can exist. Scientists have counted some 400 such dead zones around the world.
Solid waste like bags, foam, and other items dumped into the oceans from land or by ships at sea are frequently consumed, with often fatal effects, by marine mammals, fish, and birds that mistake it for food. Discarded fishing nets drift for years, ensnaring fish and mammals. In certain regions, ocean currents corral trillions of decomposing plastic items and other trash into gigantic, swirling garbage patches. One in the North Pacific, known as the Pacific Trash Vortex, is estimated to be the size of Texas. A new, massive patch was discovered in the Atlantic Ocean in early 2010.
Noise Pollution
Pollution is not always physical. In large bodies of water, sound waves can carry undiminished for miles. The increased presence of loud or persistent sounds from ships, sonar devices, oil rigs, and even from natural sources like earthquakes can disrupt the migration, communication, hunting, and reproduction patterns of many marine animals, particularly aquatic mammals like whales and dolphins.
End of the "Dilution" Era
Humans are beginning to see the shortsightedness of the "dilution" philosophy. Many national laws as well as international protocols now forbid dumping of harmful materials into the ocean, although enforcement can often be spotty. Marine sanctuaries are being created to maintain pristine ocean ecosystems. And isolated efforts to restore estuaries and bays have met with some success.
martes, 8 de noviembre de 2011
Association of American Geographers (AAG)
The Association of American Geographers (AAG) is a nonprofit scientific and educational society founded in 1904. For 100 years the AAG has contributed to the advancement of geography. Its members from more than 60 countries share interests in the theory, methods, and practice of geography, which they cultivate through the AAG's Annual Meeting, two scholarly journals (Annals of the Association of American Geographers and The Professional Geographer), and the monthly AAG Newsletter.
The AAG promotes discussion among its members and with scholars in related fields, in part through the activities of its affinity groups and more than 60 specialty groups. The meetings and activities of our regional divisions provide the opportunity to network with colleagues near you.
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