WWF-Pakistan on the celebration of Endangered Species Day summon to manage protected areas for endangered species to thrive in their natural habitats.

 

A press release said this year the organization conservation milestones include the birth of two chicks of the endangered Oriental white-backed vultures and the positive results coming out from the recently concluded Indus River dolphin survey. Their efforts bode well to save these species from extinction still the organization believes that a lot is reached.

It added that the impact of human activity is contributing to the achievement, if not causing, climate change, species around the world is in peril. Under the current trajectory, the future of various living organisms in the Anthropocene (current geological age) is uncertain; in fact, several indicators give cause for alarm.

A persistent downward trend is shown by WWF International’s Living Planet Report 2016, which measures biodiversity abundance levels based on 14,152 monitored populations of 3,706 vertebrate species. On average, monitored species showed a decline by 58 percent between 1970 and 2012.

Monitored species are increasingly affected by pressure from unsustainable agriculture, fisheries, mining and other human activities that contribute to habitat loss and degradation, over-exploitation, climate change and pollution. In a business-as-usual situation, this downward tendency in species populations continues.

United Nations targets that aim to halt the loss of biodiversity is conceived to achieve by 2020, but by then species populations may have declined on average by 67 percent over the last half century.

The press release said that WWF-Pakistan Director General Hammad Naqi Khan, in his message for the day, called for the all-out effort—what he termed a last-ditch effort— to not only save all endangered species but also conserve their habitat. He also addressed youths and encouraged them to get involved in this global effort and add renewed vigor to the cause. “Our organization is determined to conserving endangered species, and we cannot achieve this without heightened public”, he added.

 

Pakistan is home to a number of endangered species, including the Indian Pangolin, snow leopard, the Indus River dolphin and the green turtle. The facts and figures in Pakistan tend to paint a challenging picture. Yet there is still plenty of room for optimism.