We need to revisit our current approaches to conservation to focus our attention on the key driver of the loss of healthy wildlife populations — their habitats.
Every day there are fewer places left on Earth for wildlife. Expanding cities and farmland, degrading ecosystems and changing climate are driving wildlife from their natural habitats into ever smaller, fragmented areas. Habitat loss, whether caused directly or indirectly by humans, is the greatest threat to life on Earth.
This week the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services issued an alarming report on the impact of human activity on nature. Biodiversity is declining globally at rates unprecedented in human history. Three-quarters of the land-based environment alone have been severely altered by human actions. Importantly, these trends are less severe in areas held or managed by indigenous peoples and local communities.
By drastically and quickly changing how we produce and consume food, we can minimise impacts of the current wildlife crisis. Food production cannot come at the expense of other species and natural spaces. It is a path that will lead to our own demise. To achieve a balance, we need to transition towards sustainable sources of protein, increase productivity of smallholder agriculture and repurpose harmful agricultural subsidies.
Of the 1.5-billion farmers around the world, 1.2-billion are smallholders. In Africa, current crop yields for smallholder farmers remain several times lower on average compared to other regions. To make up for the yield gap, smallholder farmers are encroaching onto wildlife land, triggering conflicts and fragmenting habitats.
We are incentivising practices that are harmful to natural habitats and the ecosystem services they provide. That must change.
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