Vital GEO Graphics

In light of the globalization of agriculture, global market demand for high value commodities such as; soybeans, coffee, cotton, oil palm, horticultural goods and biofuel related crops has resulted in substantial habitat conversion and ecosystem degradation. Species loss is accelerating, with talk of a sixth major extinction event being underway. In the past, these events were caused by natural hazards and planetary change. The current losses are due mainly to human activities. Fragmentation of ecosystems is particularly damaging to migratory species, which need a contiguous network of sites for their migratory journeys and to species which rely on particular micro-habitats or to those which require multiple types of habitat during different life cycle stages.

D ownload G raphic 2

The Living Planet Index measures trends in the abundance of species for which data is available. This indicator has been adopted by the Convention on Biological Diversity to measure progress towards the 2010 target

Freshwater

1.1 Index (1970=1.0)

Living Planet Index

Marine T

errestrial

1.0

0.9

0.8

0.7

0.6

2002

1990

1998

1978

1986

1994

1974

2003

1982

1970

Source: Loh and Goldfinger 2006

Pita, Aechmea magdalane, a thorny-leaved terrestrial bromeliad, grows naturally in lowland forests of southeast Mexico. It is harvested for the commercial extraction of fibre used in the stiching and embroidering of leatherwork. One hectare of forest can provide up to 20 kilogrammes of pita fibre per year, generating an average cash income of US$1 000/ha. Credit: Elaine Marshall

35 ECOSYST EM MANAGEMENT