USAID's Habitat Conservation

It is a well known fact that human interference can cause many problems especially within the environment and the earth's ecosystems. However, it is not that well known that there are actually organizations out there that are working to save the earth and protect biodiversity, something that is very important to us. Biodiversity is defined as the variety of life on Earth (Hinterland Who's Who). It is extremely important because the different species and many types of living organisms greatly help to sustain life. There are so many reasons to protect biodiversity, but the main reason is the fact that life would not be able to function as we know it, if we don't act now and start trying to conserve biodiversity.

The United States Agency for International Development is only one of the many organizations out there that actively works to help conserve biodiversity, they achieve this through their projects on habitat conservation. USAID recognizes the evident problem of human interference in our environment, which negatively impacts habitats and drives biodiversity down. USAID battles the harmful effects of humans, through their main focus on the coastal and coral reefs, forests, and wetlands/freshwater habitats.

USAID's activities to save the coastal and coral reefs range from promotion of tourism, establishing marine reserves and parks, and through promotion of better urban water quality management. In fact coral reefs have one of the most biologically diverse ecosystems in the world. The coral reefs help provide protection for our coastlines from storms, flooding, erosion, and also help with the tourism industry and even possess medicinal values, therefore they boost the economy and environmental health at the same time. Sadly, a large amount of the world's coral reefs, about 60% are endangered (USAID), this is due to human activities such as harmful fishing practices, pollution, and increased amount of carbon dioxide and warmer water temperatures due to greenhouse gases.

USAID also works to conserve our forests. Currently there are projects set up in more than 30 countries. USAID’s efforts include reducing logging, and trying to improve the management of our forests. Forests are home to a vast array of wildlife, and plants, in fact forests are home to some of the most endangered species in the world. Not only are forests beneficial to animals and plants either, nearby villages are greatly affected by the condition of the forest. Forests provide an abundance of wood, medicinal plants, aid in regulation of water supplies, help stem soil erosion, and very importantly reduce global warming!

Wetlands being one of the world's most productive eco-systems aids in many important ecological services such as natural filtration, flood control, and have an important role to nearby human communities. USAID supports wetlands and freshwater conservation projects in more than 25 countries. USAID’s activities include managing freshwater reserves as well as thinking of new strategies to keep them protected.

While USAID works on a larger scale to protect biodiversity, we can help by trying to conserve earth’s resources as much as possible.

COMMENTS

Rowena Rollon, http://bioisawesome.blogspot.com/2010/10/couple-of-days-ago-few-of-my-friends.html#comments
Shanika Henry-Steer, http://shanikascienceblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/biodivisity-organizations-and-how-they.html#comments

SOURCES
1.http://www.hww.ca/hww2.asp?id=222

2.http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/environment/biodiversity/habitat.html
3.http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/blue_planet/coasts/coral_reefs/coral_importance
4.http://www.thestar.com/living/article/809134--save-the-forests-save-the-world
5.http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/freshwater/top-ten/