Preserving biodiversity

As I write this, people around me are getting busy preparing the 'flying footprint.' This is an encased exhibition of different materials found all over the globe. The participants of the youth summit had to hurdle the customs section to bring in seeds, crops, and food products to put in this time capsule. Some brought colorful cloths, stones, and what-nots.

Earlier, we had our lecture on access and benefits sharing, forests, and environmental governance. Later we will be presenting this flying footprint to the whole group, and next week, to Bonn for the whole UN CBD delegates to see.

Meeting the world

After traveling the wholeday- from Freiburg to Frankfurt Main to the Bavarian Forest- the whole troop of about 50 participants from all over the globe finally met.

We are now on our second day, and have done discussing biodiversity and development cooperation. We have also done a bit of hiking in the forest, and got a feel of challenges in this protected area. These mainly include management issues and bark beetles that feast on the trees.

In a little while we will be presenting our respective countries in an activity called- my environment and me. Photos and more updates soon!

Bound for biodiversity

By the time this entry gets published, I will be on a train en route to Frankfurt. From there, I will meet my other co-participants in the Go4Biodiv International Youth Summit. I hope to update still this blog regularly, and even give a blow-by-blow account of the Convention on Biodiversity when I arrive in Bonn!

Until then!

Biodiversity-for-rent

This Green.view article may be a jumble of topics and lose its focus. Just look at the better parts of the article which tackles topics on invasive species as threat to biodiversity, mechanisms for financing environmental initatives, and a reality check on eco-tourism!

After reading the article, go out, get a life, and save the planet!

Burma's bane

The cyclone that hit Burma left 22,000 dead. BBC reports that the lack of mangrove exacerbated the impact of the cyclone. Mangroves have been proven to absorb the force of waves, and could help in mitigating effects of tsunami. Moreover, mangroves are spawning grounds of marine animals.

The destruction of mangrove areas is a double-edged sword. Unfortunately, one edge has proven to be fatal in Burma's case.

Life-long losses

Click on this link to read a full report from the CBD headquarters on the foregone benefits of biodiversity that we have lost. I wrote on this topic on this blog entry a few days ago.

Biodiversity loss can be deadly

Let me spin that cigarette warning 'Smoking can be deadly' plastered in cigarette boxes and wrappers. In this report of BBC, one of the arguments of biodiversity conservation is the foregone benefits of species that have become extinct. Who knows the cure for HIV-AIDS could have been the tusk of the mammoth? Or the beak of a dodo for cancer?

Some regard this argument as weak, however, due to the uncertainty to realize these benefits. Sustainable development advocates would defend this by asserting the precautionary principle, that is, basically, 'erring on the side of caution' or something akin to the 'better-have-it-when-you-don't-need-it-than-need-it-when-you-don't-have-it' line of thinking.

What about you? Will you weed out all the poison ivy in your yard? Only to find out that it could be the panacea!

Sunbathing

It seems it is not only I who has been missing the sunshine and the warm weather. Butterflies long for them, too. Not to have a good tan in their case, but a nice weather to forage for food and do some hanky panky.

I'm glad the sun is out today after a long stretch of wet and gray weather!

Toss coin

Priorities. That's what our lives ideally should be organized through. Do you eat your breakfast and forget about getting late? Stay in a company, earn money, and climb up the corporate ladder? Or leave for another country, study, start anew and expand your horizons?

The same is need in our environment and biodiversity. With the millions of species and hundreds of them on the brink of extinction, which one do we save first? If you have the rest of the world shrunk to the size of your back yard, and you only have once chance to save a small parcel of your lot, which one do you choose? Your corner of wild orchids or the pine tree center piece? If you have come to a decision, your neighbor might ask, why did you did you choose such? Your other neighbor might ask (you have nosy neighbors!), how do you protect it? And when your parents-in-law visit, they ask, what do you have the money to protect it? Finally (hopefully!) the local authority asks, when will you start protecting it (you live in a nosy neighborhood, actually)?

Think now. And think fast. Need some leading clues? The Economist's Green.view

And if I pass by and see your garden, I might ask, did you see your neighbor's backyard? It's clean off the weeds you are growing!

Mapping Madagascar

The animated movie of the same name portrayed the island with party-loving lemurs, a naive zebra, and a lion undergoing identity crisis. With the rich biodiversity of the island, the issue that is raised is which areas to protect. Experts leave the answer to a computer, which should be able to pinpoint the upper 10% priority area, inclusive of the biodiversity of the species and the diversity of their respective required habitats.

Read the full article at the BBC website.

It may not be the kind where you can watch the animated film through video-straming, but this is what I call an extensive hotspot coverage!

GEO BON

The Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Network, or GEOBON for short (why do I have the feeling it is an observatory), is a network that aims to use data from different organizations to improve human life. It will coordinate existing and future efforts on biodiversity. Researchers can mainly benefit from the 'open-source' information it will create. I am just wary of security/privacy issues with this global database. Think national ID for biodiversity.

Guide to the CBD

To brush up on my knowledge for the upcoming CoP9 on biodiversity, I've been reading 'Governing Global Biodiversity: the evolution and implementation of the Convention on Biodiversity.' The editor, Philippe G. Le Prestre, oversaw the contribution of 16 different authors.

I am only close to finishing the first chapter that relates the story of the biodiversity convention. The introduction, penned by the editor himself, traces the origin of the biodiversity through a conservation treaty. Biodiversity has now come a long way to discussing intellectual property rights, trade, technology transfer, human health, and culture.

What I have picked up from the first 30 pages of the book affirms the whole gamut of clashing interests not only in the issue of biodiversity but also environment in general.

No trespassing

BBC reports of a Swiss lynx spotted in Italy. Lynx population was wiped out in the land of pizza and pasta to protect the livestock last century, yet it was reintroduced in Switzerland in the 70's.

In this case, what could be the 'appropriate' conservation option? To begin with, why was it justifiable to reintroduce the lynx in Switzerland? Has the lynx's mobility patterns been studied, such as this crossing over to Italian borders? To what extent will the ecological system be disrupted had they just wiped out the whole population of the lynx?

These are just some of the veils of uncertainty that wrap the biodiversity discussion.

The importance of biodiversity

Take a look at IUCN's January 2008 magazine that focuses on biodiversity. The title asks, 'A world without biodiversity?' One professor in my university raised the argument that biodiversity is a 'symbolic problem.' Does it actually matter if the panda slides into the pit of extinction? Did the world change when the last Dodo died? While I'm at it, for diversity's sake, shall we bring the dinosaurs back to life? On the other hand, imagine a world of uniformity. But that is begging the question. Are you willing to look like the guy beside you? For possible answers to those questions and a crash course on the topic, click here.

Taking the big dip

This blog was borne out of my recent 'serious' involvement with environmental issues. The other night, I was invited as a youth representative 'expert' to a political dialogue on "Biodiversity and Poverty Eradication" in Bonn. Among the invited panelists are German Federal Economic Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, UNEP Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director Angela Cropper, and leading scientific adviser Prof. Jeffrey Sayer. Invited guests from Kenya, Ethiopia, academe, and business sector also graced the event.

How did it feel to talk in front of more than 300 people. Read all about it here. I wish I could get more feedback from my five minutes of fame.

The invitation came as an added engagement after I got selected to participate in the Go 4 Biodiv International Youth Summit 2008 from May 16 to 26. After the youth summit we will troop to the Conference of Parties 9 (CoP9) of the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) in Bonn from May 26-31.

In my application to the youth summit, I mentioned that "I can contribute to a fertile discussion of our different (world) views of the environment and our interactions with it. This is not to provide a solution, but to put into perspective, through reflection, our human-environment interactions." How can you and I go about this? You don't have to take a great plunge into environmental issues. Be cautious as one can drown in all its technicalities and politics. One step at a time. For now you can test the waters with me as I take a small dip.