The Earth's Wilderness Needs Our Help Too; a Tenth of It Destroyed in Just Two Decades

In the midst of active campaigns to save the environment, most people only think about conserving specific creatures or their habitats. But not known to many, the wilderness needs our help too, as a huge portion of it continues to vanish. In a span of 25 years, we have already destroyed one-tenth of it.

Experts believe we are really missing a bigger picture. Science reported that in South America, 30% of the wilderness areas were lost in 1993 and 2009; globally, there is a 10 per cent loss. This was according to the documentation done by James Watson and his colleagues. Watson is a conservation biogeographer at the Wildlife Conservation Society. He is based at the University of Queensland, St. Lucia, in Brisbane, Australia.

Watson and his colleagues incorporated data and maps on pastures, crop lands, roadways, railways, night lighting, navigable waterways, population densities, and built environments such as settlements and urban areas. The objective was to determine the extent of the human footprint. They found that from early 1990s to late 2000s, there was an increase in two of these pressures.

Meanwhile, The Guardian reported that there may be none left from the remaining wilderness in the next century if trends continue. Experts say that the loss of the untouched refuges would be disastrous not just for endangered species but for climate change efforts as well.

In connection to this, experts also claim that among the reasons for the trend is the way governments and conservation organizations prioritize protection efforts. At present, the focus is only on severely degraded habitat. With that, it is important to take note that remote land is likewise vulnerable to various damages especially if left unguarded.

According to William Laurence, professor at the James Cook University, “Environmental policies are failing the world’s vanishing wildernesses. Despite being strongholds for imperilled biodiversity, regulating local climates, and sustaining many indigenous communities, wilderness areas are vanishing before our eye.” Wilderness refers to the landscapes that have not been used or are free of human disturbances.