Poverty, Poaching And The Decimation Of The Forest

                     The greatest biodiversity exists in some of the poorest countries in the world. Places where rainforests, mangroves and coral reefs are under great threat and are being destroyed. Places where much has already been lost.
                     Poverty, rapid population growth and desperation does not bode well for the remaining rainforests, mangroves and coral reefs.
                     People in poverty living next to or in the remaining rainforests are thinking of their own survival. When people are hungry, they will catch whatever they can. When people are poor, they will sell whatever they can that has value and that can bring in money.
                    The familiar image of poachers is that they are decimating wildlife out of greed alone.
                     Most of the people decimating wildlife are simple folks with few resources available to them. The forest is a place where food- wild animals- can be caught for free. Food to eat, and food to sell in order to survive. In some places, the wild animals, like parrots, have value if captured live.
                        Desperate poverty contributes to nature's decimation.
                        There are now in the world many dead forests. Places where practically every mammal has already been killed. Other than a few small birds here and there, practically nothing is left of the wildlife. And even with hardly anything left, snares and traps can still be found. Anything alive is lucky to survive all the traps, snares and relentless hunters
                        Eerie, sad places where once there was abundance and life. It is like a window into a future that does not bode well for humanity.
                        There are no easy answers for stopping the decimation of the forest and its wildlife.
                         Forests, mangroves and coral reefs need far better protection than what they now receive. This has to be viewed as a worldwide crisis for all of humanity, and must be addressed by the concerted efforts of wealthy nations working cooperatively with the poorer nations of the world.
                          The wealthy, developed nations of the world have to start viewing third world rainforests, mangroves and reefs as important assets that need to be protected. Adequate resources must be devoted to the preservation and protection of these invaluable assets.
                          This requires intervention on many levels. Does the rainforest have more value logged or protected? If biodiversity and humanity is to have any future, humanity had better start choosing protection.
                           And it had better stop viewing conservation and wildlife organizations as saviors. These self serving money making entities have collectively become enormously enriched while wildlife and nature has become enormously depleted.
                            Responsible governments need to step in and recognize that conservation and wildlife protection is a global crisis and a global concern.
                            Rainforests, mangroves and coral reefs need to be properly preserved, secured and protected by governments and their various arms, including law enforcement entities and military forces when necessary( particularly in the case of armed poacher gangs that are killing wildlife to sell tusks, rhino horns, gorilla hands and feet and other animal body parts in the blackmarket).
                            Poverty must be addressed on many different levels. This includes incentives for people to not cut trees, to not kill wildlife, and for them to have sustainable alternative means of making a living. Family planning needs to be a vital component of any conservation effort. There is simply not enough forest, not enough mangroves, not enough coral reefs that can sustain an unsustainable human population.
                            The rain forests, mangroves and coral reefs of third world countries must have more value to all countries instead of  having them destroyed.  Keeping the rainforest intact and not having it logged has more long term value to humanity than having it logged.
                             Time is running out. As this is written, thousands of people are in the rainforests of the world, looking for any wild animal to kill, eat, trap, sell, or capture. Loggers are decimating  rainforests, the most biologically rich places in the world. In the case of the Congo, home to gorillas, bonobos, chimpanzees and countless wildlife; they simply will not survive the assault. Wildlife, from great apes to simple creatures, are being wiped out in the massive world wide destruction of rainforest.  Rainforests are being logged to death and their wildlife hunted to depletion, with hardly enough exceptions.
                              People are blindly sending money to a number of conservation and wildlife organizations believing they are addressing this crisis.
                             They are not. These organizations have been far too ineffective and at times harmful, and have lulled people into complacency.
                              True conservation and wildlife protection needs to move fully into the hands of responsible governments. They must be at the forefront of conservation and wildlife protection. Conservation organizations must be advocates for strong, non corrupt government involvement in conserving and protecting wildlife and habitats. These organizations must stop pretending to be something they are not.
                              I have seen incredible coral reefs, mangroves, rainforests filled with life. I have lived long enough to see many of these places die. The individual life span of a human being is not that long. We are only here for a short time. It was never our right to leave behind far less than that which we inherited.