The document discusses environmental sustainability challenges and conservation efforts in Asia and Africa. In Africa, threats include conflict between wildlife and people, overexploitation of resources, deforestation, and rising poaching. Conservation groups work with local communities to prevent poaching through methods like anti-poaching dogs and community conservancies. In Asia, challenges include lack of political will to fund conservation, overexploitation of fisheries and timber, and damage from climate events. The document highlights vulnerable species and recent conservation progress in Afghanistan with a new national park supporting both wildlife and indigenous groups. It stresses the importance of conservation biologists communicating their research to policymakers.

1. Environmental Sustainability and
Conservation in Asia and Africa
Feb 24 Conservation Spotlight - Conner Bradley

2. Originally, the term “environmentally responsible development” was used
Subsequently, “environmentally sustainable development” was employed
Principles of Environmental Sustainability:
• long-term perspective (without any designated time limit);
• understanding of the non-linear evolution of complex systems (tipping points,
thresholds, sudden unpredictable changes);
• taking feedbacks into account (in particular the positive ones);
• regard for different scales (in time and space);
• flexibility (the ability to react to a changing situation, learning by doing);
• key importance of local conditions; and
• respect for living nature in general and for biological diversity in particular.
Environmental Sustainability:

3. Environmental Sustainability:

5. Sustainability Challenges in Africa:
The survival of Africa’s wildlife depends on its relationship with
people
- Reduce conflict between people and wildlife (competition)
- Overexploitation – Tragedy of the Commons
Modernization and Deforestation
- Continued development threatens vital ecosystems
Poaching
“The poaching of wildlife—such as gorillas for meat, elephants for ivory,
and rhinos for their horn—is on the rise” - AWF

6. Vulnerable Species

7. STOP POACHING!!
South Africa – home to more than 80% of Africa’s rhino populations – is losing hundreds of rhinos each year. In this
country alone: 122 rhinos were killed in 2009, 333 rhinos were killed in 2010, 88 rhinos have been killed so far in 2012.
- WWF

8. Solutions used by AWF
Prevent Poaching with Sniffer Dogs
- Dogs can locate ivory products or poachers themselves
- GPS tracking used on wildlife
Create Community Conservancies
- Work with people who agree to protect their natural resources
Reserves for protection
- Prevent poaching and habitat loss as well as extend corridors.
Research/ Education
- Tagging elephants to discover conservation locations
- Educating public about Environmental sustainability

9. Sustainability Challenges in Asia:
Political Investment
- Governments are investing far too little in conservation
- “Few Asian governments have taken the necessary steps to assess the economic value and role of
species and ecosystems in human life.”
Overexploitation
- Fisheries
- Timber
Climate Events
- Tsunamis/ Earthquakes

10. Vulnerable Species

11. Progress in Afghanistan
"The communities in Band-e Amir love it,"
says Zahler. "[The park] has brought
attention, tourists, and jobs. [So] the
communities in Wakhan are really
enthusiastic.“
“Thanks to an agreement with the Afghan
government, the locals will be allowed to
stay in the park. They will co-manage it with
the federal government, and many will get
jobs as rangers, managers, and other park
personnel.”
– National Geographic
Wakhan National Park—the country's second such
sanctuary—protects mountains, snow leopards, and
indigenous people
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7OVHjUphBE

12. Conclusion
“Conservation biologists need to ensure that our research reaches out
beyond our circle of colleagues and peers, towards and into the
corridors of power.”
“If we stay in our comfortable meeting rooms and give inadequate
attention to what is happening in the larger world, we are both doing a
disservice to conservation biology and missing a significant opportunity
to make our world a better place.”
- Conservation Biology in Asia

13. Literature Cited:
• http://www.awf.org/wildlife-conservation Conservation in Africa website
• http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X11001282
sustainability definition
• http://epi.yale.edu/files/2012_epi_report.pdf Environmental index
• http://www.conbio.org/images/content_groups/Asia/Chapter%2028_McNee
ly_Thinking_Creatively.pdf Asia conservation (conclusion)
• http://www.academia.edu/2386539/Conservation_Biology_in_Asia_the_Maj
or_Policy_Challenges Asian Conservation bio - politics
• http://www.wcs.org/saving-wild-places/asia.aspx - WCS ecosystems to
protect
• http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/04/140404-wakhan-
national-park-afghanistan-kyrgyz/ nat geo on afghanistan