CONSERVATION BIOLOGY

According to the National Geographic Society, conservation is the act of

protecting earth’s natural resources for current and future generations. Earth’s

natural resources include air, minerals, plants, soil, water, wildlife, etc.

Conservation and preservation are similar as they try to protect nature but in

different ways. The difference is that while conservation seeks the sustainable

use of nature by man, preservation is protecting nature from human use

(National Geographic Society, 2019). An example is national parks and national

forests. The national parks seek for preservation as the change to the

environment is usually minimal or doesn’t even occur. While the national

forests can be used for grazing, lumber, hunting, and even recreation, as an act

of conservation.

Pinchot (1910) defined it as the greatest good to the greatest number for the

longest time. He wrote the three principles of conservation which are:

 Development: that natural resources should be used for the benefit of the

people living now as there would be as much waste in neglecting

development as in destructive use.

 Conservation: the prevention of waste in all directions, as the first duty

of man is the control of the earth it inhabits.

  Protection of Public Interests: natural resources must be developed and

managed for everyone’s benefit, and not only a few. (Pinchot, 1910).

Conservation is one of the most significant applications of ecology. It avoids

unplanned development which breaks ecological and human laws.

Conservation of natural resources is the wise use of the earth’s resources by

humanity. The term conservation referred to the management, mainly for

economic reasons, of such valuable natural resources as timber, fish, game,

top soil, pastureland, and minerals, and also to the preservation of forests,

wildlife, parkland and watershed areas. Conservation of natural resources is

now usually embraced in the broader conception of conserving the earth, by

protecting the capacity for self-renewal. Particularly complex are the problems

of non-renewable resources such as oil, coal and other minerals in great

demand. Current thinking also favours the protection of entire ecological

regions by the creation of ‘biosphere reserves’. Examples of such conservation

areas include the major national parks in Nigeria. The importance of

reconciling human use and conservation beyond the boundaries of parks has

become another important issue.

Conservation aims at managing living organisms for the benefits of mankind.

The living organisms range from the microscopic ones like bacteria to the
macroscopic ones like the elephant with the objective of maintaining a stable
balance in the ecosystem.
This scope of coverage includes: air, noise, vegetation, and land and water
conservation.

Conservation involves the following:

 Formulating policies and regulations directed towards protection and

maintaining populations of living organisms of both plants and animals
in their environment.
 Identifying and preserving their habitats that enable them to reproduce
effectively, and
 The control of the environment against pollution by setting up agencies
to promote and monitor conservation strategies.

Why do we conserve the soil? Reasons include:

 Maintain & improve soil resources.

 Prevent its destruction by agents of erosion e.g. wind and water
 Retain and improve its physical and chemical characteristics.
 Increase global food production.
 Maintain essential ecological processes and soil life support system.

Why do we bother to conserve?

In the past 300 years not less than 25,000 species of plants and over 1,000
birds have been exterminated from the face of the earth. Currently some are
at the risk of extinction. It is estimated that 500 billion species of organisms are
believed to have existed on earth from the inception of life. Out of this, about
5 – 10 million are presently leading to an extinction rate of 98 per cent. Many
governments now have in their agenda the conservation of wild living
resources, and nearly 4 per cent of the earth’s land area is managed explicitly
to conserve species and ecosystems, and only very few countries have National
Parks.

Today, the fact is that most species have always been victims of extinction.
Apparently, the process of speciation gives birth to new species. As new
species come into existence, the older ones that are not able to withstand the
present environmental conditions gradually go into extinction. We are
experiencing this devastating effect because the planet earth is being
subjected to both destruction and over-exploitation of the natural habitat.
It is unethical for human beings to exterminate other species. Quite a lot of
people derive satisfaction from observing wildlife. The go to recreation sites to
observe with keen interest and satisfaction the mode of life of these
organisms. Others are happier when they are able to conserve / protect the
already existing species / organisms.

Today, our lifestyle has essentially upset the balance of nature and is beginning
to bring about huge changes in the world around us with possibly disastrous
future consequences. Only now are we beginning to understand that everything
we do has a knock-on effect. By burning fossil fuels, such as coal, and by
pursuing policies of vast deforestation, for example, we are contributing
towards a potential increase in the earth’s temperature.
Every time we bring about such changes in any environment, we affect the life-
animal and vegetable- it contains. By destroying the habitats in which particular
species flourish, we almost inevitably threaten them with extinction. Even more
sinister is the fact that we are destroying and have destroyed-numbers of animal
species, because we have thoughtlessly hunted and killed them for no better
reasons than that they provide us with something we could often obtain in other
less damaging ways. If this destructive path is to be altered, it is vital that we
change our attitude to the world and the other species with which we share it.
Advantages of Conservation

 To prevent undue pressure on the planet earth resulting from

destruction and over exploitation of the habitat e.g. Uncontrolled
hunting of African elephant, Loxodonta africana (Population reduced
from 1.3 million to 650,000 in the 1980s)
 To guarantee the existence of natural forest and woodland, by avoiding
indiscriminate burning of bushes and trees that produces timber.
 It will prevent the extermination of species by placing embargo on the
killing or elimination of some species.
 It will create avenue for recreation sites and tourist centers. Nature
tourism generates quite a huge amount of money a year globally.
  To encourage research in genetic transfers of desirable traits / genes to
the domestic stock. New breeds generated in the process may have
better improved qualities.
 To ensure food security, this depends on genetic diversity. Availability of
various organisms makes room for a wide range of choice of food items.
 It will maintain a balance in ecosystem by protecting the lives of all
organisms.
 Create the best natural environment for organisms to produce develop
and multiply thereby yielding a large reservoir of genetic diversity e.g. If
Mangroves are not destroyed, they create healthy environment for fish
to breed and survive.
 To promote study in animal behaviour (etiology) and their interactions.
More organisms will be available for academic research purposes upon
implementation of conservation rules.
 To provide opportunities for income generation. National Parks are
sources of revenue generation for the government.

CONSERVATION AGENCIES

Due to the campaign for conservation most countries including Nigeria have
established National Parks at various states of the Federation for the
preservation of wild species without human’s interference.

The Parks in Nigeria include:

1. Cross River National Park in Cross River State.

2. Yankari National Park in Bauchi State.
3. Kainji Lake National Park in Niger State.
4. Gashaka-Gumti National Park in Taraba State.
5. Chad Basin National Park in Borno State ,
6. Old Oyo National Park in Oyo State, and
7. Okomu National Park in Edo State

National Conservation Foundation (NCF) –

- A charitable non-governmental organization (NGO)

- NCF was established in 1982:
 - To create awareness of the increasing dangers posed by the continuing
degradation of the natural habitats and loss of wildlife.
- It has been involved mainly in bringing conservation matters to public and
official attention.
- NCF, over the years gave attention to a number of issues involving:
i) Illegal trade in endangered species
ii) Protection of forests and soils from abuse, and
iii) Conservation of Nigeria’s Natural heritage

There are many international agencies or organisations that are involved in

various conservation projects either at the national or at global levels. These
include:

- International Union for Conservation of Nature and natural Resources

(IUCN) (Washington, USA)
- The United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA)
- National Resources Conservation (NRC), Washington.
- World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
- United Nations Environmental Protection (UNEP), New York.
- African Wildlife Foundation (AWF).
- Indian National Resources conservation (INRC)

Conservation Approaches

The wildlife conservation efforts are mostly centred on protecting plant and
animal life in protected habitats such as botanical gardens, zoological gardens,
sanctuaries, national parks, biosphere reserves, etc. The two basic approaches
to the wildlife conservation in protected habitats are:

i) In-situ conservation, and

ii) Ex-situ conservation.

In-situ conservation means conservation of species in its natural ecosystem.

This type of conservation applies only to wild fauna and flora, and not to the
domesticated animals and plants because conservation is possible by
protection of population in nature. In-situ conservation is a comprehensive
system of ‘protected area’, which involves setting aside large portions of
earth’s surface for wildlife with emphasis either to save the entire area or an
endangered species. According to World Conservation Union, ‘protected area
is defined as – “an area of land and/or sea specially dedicated to the protection
and maintenance of biological diversity and of natural and associated cultural
resources and managed through legal or other effective means”. There are
different categories of protected areas which are managed with different
objective e.g. national parks, sanctuaries, biosphere, reserves etc.

Advantages include:

- The best strategy for the long term protection of biodiversity.

- It is cheaper to protect populations in their natural habitat than to
reintroduce captive-bred ones.
- Proper management of the extant populations in the wild is very
important for their survival e.g. habitat protection, facilitating gene flow,
introduction of new genetic stock, translocation of animals.

Limitations or factors that reduce the laudable advantages of in-situ

conservation:

- Many protected areas are not large enough,

- Not maintained properly,
- Are not protected from environmental population,
- Some protected habitats are used for logging, tourism, or other profitable
activities.

Ex-situ or off-site conservation means conservation of species (sample of

genetic diversity) particularly of endangered species, away from their natural
habitat under human supervision. This is otherwise known as conservation in
captivity under human care. Captive breeding aims at maintaining viable and
healthy genetic captive stocks in conservation facilities and is meant to
supplement in-situ initiatives.

In ex-situ, the endangered species of animals are collected and bred under
controlled conditions in zoos, game farms, aquaria etc. while plants species
are maintained in botanical gardens, arboreta and seed banks.

Advantages:

- The organism is assured of food, shelter and security.

 - It can have longer life-span and breeding capacity.
- The chances of survival will increase based on the level of human care and
secure conditions.
- Provides the possibility of using genetic techniques to improve the
concerned species.
- Can provide animals for possible reintroduction to the wild at a later
stage.

Disadvantages:

- Can be adopted only for a few selected species

- Deprives the organism the opportunity to adapt to the ever-changing
natural environment. As a result, new life-forms cannot evolve and the
gene-pool gets stagnant

REASONS FOR CHOOSING A SITE FOR CONSERVATION / PRESERVATION

Sites for conservation could be chosen based on the following reasons:

- To protect our forests and soils from abuse.

- Prevent the loss of Nation’s National heritage.
- Preserve the life of endangered species of w
- ild life.
- Serve as tourist attraction.
- Serve as source of income to individuals and government
- Serve as focal point of a major scientific and community development
project.
- Create more conducive atmosphere/habitat for flora and fauna life.
- Every species needs a maximum area for its survival. The larger the
species to be conserved the larger the area required.

PROBLEMS THAT FACE BIOLOGICAL CONSERVATION

The problems that are facing biological conservation include the following:

1. Inadequate public awareness on the need for conservation.

2. Frustrating the role of the development agencies that contribute directly
to the conservation of biological diversity.
 3. Opposition to conserving biological diversity raised by “traditional”
development of the area.
4. Inappropriate policy reforms in the areas outside the conservation
sectors.
5. Inadequate training of man power involved in conservation programme.
6. Problem of poor financing of institutions involved in conservation.
Enough capital is required to purchase enough land for these species.

Conservation Strategies

Conservation strategies are urgently needed for the protection of species and
ecosystem, involving a combination of in-situ and ex-situ conservation
strategies. The following suggested steps should be included in such a
conservation policy.

* Create new types of legally recognized reserves, other than national parks
and sanctuaries, where sustainable and community involvement is encouraged
e.g. community reserves, conservation reserves, etc.

* Community reserves will protect landscapes, ecosystems, and species

traditionally or cultural conserved by local communities. These reserves should
be limited to private and community land, not on government owned area.

* Special effort should be made to preserve the endangered species on priority

over vulnerable species, rare species and other categories, and various
varieties of life forms should be preserved.

* Each country should identify the critical habitats of the species (i.e. the
feeding, breeding, nursery and resting area, etc.) and safeguard them.

* International trade in wild animals (or their body parts) has to be tackled
through better enforcement and effective implementation of legislative and
administrative measures.

* Use of GIS (Geographic Information Systems) and remote sensing can help in
determining the rates, causes and scale of biodiversity loss. GIS must be
utilized as a tool in policy and landscape level planning.

Nigeria’s National Policy on the environment

Over three decades ago, Nigeria Government realized the urgent need to
protect the environment, and a National policy was then formulated. The
introductory statement states:

Nigeria is committed to a national policy that ensures sustainable based

on proper management of the environment in order to meet the needs of
present and future generations. This demands positive and realistic planning
that balances human needs against the potential that the environment has for
meeting them (Okorodudu-Fubara, 1998).

An examination of the objectives of the policy reveals that:

- The Nigerian Government has a plan to provide a suitable

Environment that will support the health and well being of its

Citizens while maintaining the ecosystems as well as getting the

Public awareness on environmental matters and partaking in

International laws on the environment.

- However, current trend in the nation does not show a determined follow-
up of this policy. The Niger Delta crises – majorly an ecological one reveals
our lack of commitment to this policy, despite the legislation that
developed after the National policy on the environment.

At the international level, conventions, such as Ramsar Convention on

wetlands, World Heritage Convention and the recent Bio-diversity Treaty
in 1992 are of much significance to accelerate conservation.
Biodiversity Treaty:
- Was signed by 171 countries including Nigeria, at the Earth Summit in
Rio De Janeiro (Brazil) in June 1992.
- It came into effect in December 1993.
- Some of its salient features, whose importance the treaty recognises, are
under the following:
-Intrinsic value of biological diversity
- Sovereign rights of states over biological resources
 - The desire to share equitably the benefits arising from the use of
traditional knowledge, skills, innovations and practices.

- Transfer of relevant technologies, including biotechnology on fair and

most favourable terms, from the developed to the developing nations, who are
the most providers of genetic resources.

Constraints in the Application and Implementation of Conservation

Legislations
It is quite apparent that environmental legislation establishes binding
policies and standards, provides the foundation for substantive and
procedural regulations, and creates institutions for implementing
policies and enforcing the rules. Unfortunately, Nigeria is yet to evolve
enough jurisprudence. Few lawyers have been trained in the legal
mechanisms for regulating environmental conservations and quality,
with the results that the quality of environmental management in the
country continues to suffer.
 Available evidence also suggests that little effort has been made
to date to enforce most of the relevant laws. Information
campaigns have not yet been undertaken to make the public and
the authorities themselves aware of which plants and animals are
protected and, as a result ability to identify them is rare. Of the
thousands of hunters in the country, it is very doubtful that many
know which animal species the law protects. Consequently, many
of the protected animals are also extinct due to poaching.
 Absence of soil policy and regulation (legislation) that directly
tackle soil conservation, despite the obvious linkage between
 deforestation and the soil erosion on one hand and agricultural
productivity on the other.
 Some of the parks and game reserves are yet to be gazetted. The
Nigerian park system is currently in disarray, owing to the absence
of clear cut definition and classification of parks and game
reserves. While the absence of definitions in legislation provides
considerable flexibility in the establishment of parks, it however
provides little guidance in their management. Often these natural
parks have no rangers and equipments to enforce existing laws
and regulations.
 Lack of political will on the part of policy makers and implements
to enforce existing legislation properly.
 Inadequacy of funds
 Inadequately trained man-power in certain areas such as game
preservation, wet land management and impact assessment.
 Inadequacy of well-equipped laboratories and equipments for
testing and monitoring purposes. Thus, land use changes are
rarely monitored on a regular basis.
 An important constraint is the mistrust and the misunderstanding
between social scientists on the one hand and pure as well as the
applied scientists on the other hand, as well as their contributions
to environmental protection and conservation which are inter-
disciplinary in nature.
 Absence of spatial physical development at local and regional
level, thereby making appropriate land zoning and land use
management difficult, if not impossible.
WILDLIFE CONSERVATION

Wildlife conservation according to the national humane education society is the

practice of protecting animal species and their habitats.

Wildlife is a term used to refer to any non-domesticated vertebrate species i.e.

animals found to be living outside the control of man; existing freely in the

wild.

Threats to Wild-Life

1) Loss of Habitat and fragmentation

The greatest threat to biodiversity is habitat loss. During the last two centuries

human population increase rapidly so in order to meet their requirements, land,

farming and urbanization an important amount of natural vegetation was

degraded which leads to deforestation around the world. There is a great need of

public awareness in this time for conservation of forest and wildlife.

2. National and international wildlife Trade

For conservation of wildlife there is great threat of wildlife trades. CITES

(Convention on International Trade in endangered species) relying on trade bans

and controls.

o Trade for biomedical research

There are many laws, regulations, convention, treaties, policies and

organizations for the use of animal species for biomedical research but also

there are further requirements for non-human primates. These requirements

include political initiatives, medical needs, moral and ethical concerns, social

and cultural perspectives and species differences.

o Bushmeat trade

In tropic areas, use of wildlife is massive, local community consumed about 5

million tons bush meat.

3. Global Warming/Climate Change

Due to human activities, there are continuous changes in the environment which

leads to environmental degradation, habitat loss, and fragmentation. It is a great

threat to the world’s biodiversity. Climatic changes are very important for

species distribution and dispersal and with the passage of time global warming

is continually accelerating so it is predicated that risk of declining species will

increase under climate change condition.

4. Pollution

Due to human activities there is a great amount of litter in oceans that leads to

great problems for aquatic life. Introduction of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs)

into marine food web increases the mortality rate of seabirds, fish, turtles and

mammals. Similarly, organochlorine (OCs), and dichloro-diphenyl-

trichloroethanes (DDTs) are also harmful pollutants and they persist for a long

time. In oceans more than 6 million metric tons of plastic enter each year and it

is estimated that it will increase in great magnitudes in the next ten years. Its

degradation time is unknown.

5. Farmer/Rancher shooting/Poaching
 2. Illegal poaching is also another threat to wildlife conservation.
Conservationists have lobbied for better managed land area for
minimizing threats as poaching is a great threat to wildlife conservation.
In current situation, there are no laws for protection of some species, so,
an alternative approach is applied. That is the commercial breeding that
keeps the pressure off from wildlife, referred to as wildlife farming.
Pangolian trade is a great threat for this species. It’s poaching in China
and Vietnam is for meat and scales.

PROJECT: ELEPHANT CONSERVATION IN AFRICA

Today, African elephants (Loxodonta africana spp.) are highly endangered and

are listed as ‘vulnerable’ on the International Union for Conservation of Nature

Red List (IUCN).

The sub-Saharan region of the African continent contains a population of at

least 550,000 elephants, with some estimates approaching 700,000 individuals

in 37 range countries. The Savanna Elephant (Loxodonta africana) resides

primarily in southern and eastern Africa, but also in Central and West Africa.

The Forest Elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) lives primarily in Central and West

Africa.

Elephants are not evenly distributed across the continent. Southern Africa has

the largest range (39% of 3,335,827km2) and contains >50% of the continental

population (Blanc et al., 2007). Eastern and Central Africa have similar range
sizes with Eastern Africa containing 165,000-200,000 individuals while Central

Africa has 60,000-135,000 elephants. West Africa contributes some 5% of the

total range and perhaps 10,000 elephants. Approximately 70% of the range of

elephants lies outside of protected regions.

MEASURES FOR CONSERVATION OF ELEPHANTS IN AFRICA

In spite of the uniqueness and key role elephants play in forest ecosystems,

African forest elephant populations have depleted over the years owing to a

number of factors including ivory poaching and trade across their range,

habitat loss through the conversion of land to agriculture and increasing

competition for resources with growing human populations (Maisels et al.,

2013).

A better understanding and knowledge of elephants abundance and distribution

will make it possible to develop a coherent strategy for their conservation and

management. Below are few measures proposed by the African government and

people to conserve the African elephant species.

 Introducing modern field intelligence methods to combat the

increasingly professional wildlife crime through capacity building of

intelligence networks, improving methods to secure evidence at crime

sites, and enhancing evidence-handling and prosecution methods.

 Combating the Illegal killing of elephants and regional trade of ivory:

strengthen community support to save the elephants, establish new

inspection offices at border points, procure equipment and train

enforcement officers at entry and exit points and improving training of

regional customs and judiciary officials at key sites and trade routes,

and to establish bilateral mechanisms e.g Kenya/Tanzania,

Nigeria/Cameroon on cross border wildlife law enforcement for

elephant protection to increase cooperation and resources for

combating elephant poaching and illegal ivory trade in the region.

 Building capacity and developing tools for elephant censoring and

elephant mortality monitoring in Tropical Mountain and forest

habitats and improve monitoring and tracking of elephant population.

 Enhancing Prosecution of Elephant Poachers through Training, Ivory

stockpile Genotyping and Construction of African Elephant DNA

Library.

 Human-elephant conflicts mitigation: Collect data on elephant crop

damage and elephant movement patterns, increase awareness of the

conservation of elephants and reduce human-elephant conflict through

excavation of an elephant trench and use of biological and organic

deterrents to stray elephants and use bee fencing as a human elephant

conflict mitigation measure. Another way this can be done is by

educating locals on the importance of elephants in their locality and

 they should be encouraged to see the good elephants’ presence can

bring to their local communities while they ignore the slight damages

the elephants can cause.

 Strengthen the legislative and regulatory framework of the region.

Effective trans-boundary cooperation should be fostered. Level of

punishment for poaching should be the same across borders. Countries

must honour their commitment to international conventions e.g

CITES.

 Training security personnels on the most effective ways of tackling

poaching, carrying out enlightenment programmes to educate the

people (authorities and laymen inclusive) on the economic importance

of elephants in the region.

 The private sector, mainly large scale extraction industries (loggers,

miners, etc.) Should be enlightened on the dangers they cause elephant

populations with their large-scale extraction processes and encouraged

to reduce them. They should be encouraged to become active partners

with the government to ensure the effective conservation of wildlife.

 Institutional framework should be strengthened by ensuring the

allocation of resources (finances, manpower, and equipment),

adequate enough to sustain the elephant conservation move.

 Agro-pastoral/rural development strategies that limit the

fragmentation of elephant habitat, while simultaneously enabling

people to live alongside elephants must be tested and implemented.

 Government and NGOS have been encouraged to invest in habitat

management, rehabilitation, and protection of parks and reserves to

improve habitats for elephants.

 Reduce the Rate of Loss of Elephant Range.

 The gathering of sound data on numbers, distribution, conflict,

impacts, etc., of elephants – lack of such information remains a major

problem.

 Some critical areas of research (e.g historical numbers of elephants,

impacts on biodiversity and the setting of acceptable limits to change)

need to be fast tracked and receive appropriate support.

 Support for improved controls over ivory stocks and internal trade in

ivory.

 Support for Community based natural resource management

(CBNRM) particularly on institutional and governance issues so that

conservation success can be maintained.

 Further investigation of methods of elephant birth control and their

effects on social behaviour, and their use in managing smaller

populations.