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Discuss some themes on conserving the ecological systems of East Africa and the world

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- Over the past 50 years, humans have changed ecosystems faster and more extensively than in any period in human history. This has been due largely to rapidly growing demands for food, freshwater, timber, fiber, and fuel. The result has been a substantial and largely irreversible loss in the diversity of life on Earth. The changes made to ecosystems have contributed to substantial gains in human well-being and economic development, but these gains have been achieved at growing costs. These costs include the degradation of many ecosystem services, increased risks of abrupt changes, and increased poverty for some groups of people. These problems, unless addressed, will substantially reduce the benefits that future generations get from ecosystems.
- The impacts of human actions on ecosystems are often slow to become apparent. In general, people manage ecosystems in such ways that short-term benefits are increased, while long-term costs go unnoticed or are ignored. This can transfer the costs of current changes to future generations.
- Human well-being is highly dependent on ecosystems and the benefits they provide such as food and drinkable water. Over the past 50 years, however, humans have had a tremendous impact on their environment. Virtually all of Earth’s ecosystems have been significantly transformed through human actions. Changes have been especially rapid in the last 50 years and today the fastest changes are taking place in developing countries and in East Africa in particular. Ecosystems are particularly affected by large-scale fishing, freshwater use, and agriculture.
- Ecosystems depend on fundamental environmental cycles such as the continuous circulation of water, carbon, and other nutrients. Human activities have modified these cycles, especially during the last 50 years, through increases in freshwater use, carbon dioxide emissions, and fertilizer use. This in turn has affected the ability of ecosystems to provide benefits to humans.
- Many animal and plant populations have declined in numbers, geographical spread, or both. For instance, a quarter of mammal species are currently threatened by extinction. Human activity has caused between 50 and 1000 more extinctions in the last 100 years than would have happened due to natural processes. Increasingly, the same species are found at different locations on the planet and the overall biodiversity is decreasing, because some rare species are lost and common ones spread to new areas. Overall, the range of genetic differences within species has declined, particularly for crops and livestock.

francis1897 answered the question on February 28, 2023 at 05:15

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Discuss some themes on conserving the ecological systems of East Africa and the world

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