Madagascar is home to 90 species of primates, including more than 50 lemur species, has become a model for conservation.
Credit: Wikipedia
SYDNEY: Biodiversity is life in all its glorious and weird variety, from genetic to ecosystem diversity and species richness. But we are on a progressive march towards mass extinction — the International Union for Conservation of Nature reports that species are dying out 1,000 to 10,000 times faster than they would without human intervention.
In 2010, the International Year of Biodiversity, the focus is on the planet’s most species-rich pockets.
TROPICAL ANDES, SOUTH AMERICA
Original extent: 1,542,644 km2
Habitat remaining: 385,661 km2
Only one quarter of Earth’s most diverse region – the tropical Andes – remains intact. Here, pockets of vegetation contain one sixth of the planet’s plant life in just one per cent of its land area. “Preserving biodiversity is very important – ecosystems provide a number of services essential for human well-being,” says ecologist Will Steffen from the Australian National University in Canberra.
MADAGASCAR
Original extent: 600,461 km2
Habitat remaining: 60,046 km2
A fragment of a lost continent, Madagascar is home to 90 species of primates, including more than 50 lemur species, that are found nowhere else on Earth. Humans have destroyed much of Madagascar’s habitat, but in recent years it has become a model for conservation. Unfortunately, a political coup in March 2009 has derailed efforts.
CERRADO, BRAZIL
Original extent: 2,031,990 km2
Habitat remaining: 438,910 km2
Biodiversity loss in Brazil conjures up images of razed Amazon rainforest. But the Cerrado, Brazil’s wide savannah, hosts almost as many plant species as the Amazon Basin (more than 10,000) and is losing vegetation even faster. Two-thirds of the Cerrado have been converted to grow soy beans and graze cattle. Conservation International estimates that the Cerrado ecosystem could be gone by 2030.
INDO-BURMA
Original extent: 2,373,057 km2
Habitat remaining: 118,653 km2
This lush monsoonal region covers two million square kilometres of Asia from Vietnam to India. It hosts 1,300 bird species, 520 reptile species — including one fifth of the world’s freshwater turtle species — and mammals ranging from the large (the iconic and endangered tiger and Indian elephant) to the small (Craseonycteris thonglongyai, the world’s smallest bat at just 2-3 cm long). It is also one of the most threatened hotspots – just 5% of natural habitat remains pristine.
