What makes us a hotspot?
What makes the Caribbean such a hotspot of biodiversity? And what is biodiversity anyway?
Biodiversity explained
Biodiversity refers to the variety of life on the planet, in all its forms, says Dr Howard Nelson, a researcher at The UWI, but biologists have placed them into three broad categories – genetic, species and ecosystem diversity.
Biodiversity provides humans with critical goods and services, he says, listing some off: water production; food, fiber and fuel; soil formation and protection; sustainable livelihoods derived from ecotourism and the harvesting of forest products, and equally important, being a spiritual and cultural well-spring for regional people.
Caribbean Hotspot
The Caribbean and South America are considered hotspots in terms of biodiversity, says Dr Nelson, citing the rainforests and the coral reefs as two striking examples.
“Most of the islands are oceanic islands and are in the middle of nowhere,” he says, “that isolation allows evolution.” He says there are high levels of endemism (unique species) in places like St Vincent, St Lucia, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Cuba and Hispaniola. “Almost every plant, every insect you touch…everything tends to be unique.”
As islands, Trinidad and Tobago have low levels of endemism, for instance, only two endemic birds [Trinidad Piping-guan, or the Pawi (Pilpile pipile) and the Trinidad Mot Mot (Momotus bahamensis) which was only given species status within the last year, thus making it a new endemic].
But they are teeming with species.
Avian species richness of approximately 420 spp
Butterfly species richness of over 660 spp
Mammal species richness of 97 native spp
Billion-dollar ecosystem
Making a presentation on the biodiversity crisis from an island perspective, Dr Nelson had said that the minimum estimated value of 17 ecosystem services was between US$33 billion and US$54 billion, while the current global gross national product was U$18 billion, practically half of that.
“It would take two to three times the value of all human economic activity on the planet to replicate 17 ecosystem services provided by nature,” he explains.
Andrew Lawrence, a professor of Environmental Biology, is sitting with us and he comments that the ecosystems have a functional value to us.
“Coral reefs in Tobago have an estimated value of about $160 million annually, in tourism, fisheries and shoreline protection; that’s about half the GDP of Tobago.” (Afterwards, he sent figures from the World Resources Institute which confirmed what he said.)
The $$ Value of Coral Reefs
- Reef associated tourism in Tobago contributed US$100-130 million per year in 2006
- Fisheries economic benefit ranged from US$0.8-1.3 million per year
- Shoreline protection services of reefs were valued at US$18-33 million
- In 2006 the GDP of Tobago was US$286 million
Source: World Resources Institute |
Is there a crisis?
Designated the International Year of BioDiversity, 2010 has been redefined not as the year to mark a significant reduction in the rate of biodiversity loss but at best, as the year when the world began taking it seriously.
In 2007, economist Pavan Sukhdev was asked to lead a study, The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB), which revealed that one-third of Earth’s habitats have been damaged by humans. In October, the final findings will be presented at the global Convention on Biological Diversity conference in Japan, the biggest marker of the year of Biodiversity.
“Our analysis shows that governments have failed to deliver on the commitments they made in 2002: biodiversity is still being lost as fast as ever, and we have made little headway in reducing the pressures on species, habitats and ecosystems,” said Stuart Butchart, lead author of the first formal assessment of the target, published in the journal, Science.
Photo: Kerrie Naranjit ©
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