jameswithington98
-storage-emulated-0-DCIM-Australia Spring '18-20180614-105635
This photo was taken in early September of 2018 in el Yunque National Rainforest in Puerto Rico. The rainforest is a 44 square mile piece of land which is also the biggest block of designated public land on the entire island. It has also been designated as a wildlife refuge which means no hunting any of the animals in the rainforest.
Of all the SDGs that this photo may apply to, I am going to focus on the 15th (Life on Land) for this example. There have been many regulations and actions taken to help sustain and protect this rainforest for both our uses and the actual life that flourishes in this special place. There have been over 240 plant species found in this rainforest and several endangered animals such as the Amazona vittata (green Parrot) live in this location. Protecting these animals is very important for the ecosystem as a whole, which I believe the government has done a good job doing, but other concerns such as the protection of plant species are just as important but not as focused on. Overall a great job is being done to protect, restore, and promote sustainable uses of the land as well as the life that lives on it. Many rainforests around the world such as the Amazon and the Conga are not so lucky in terms of restrictions and the forests suffer greatly from deforestation and overharvesting which in turn has huge negative impacts on the organisms living there. From the early 1900’s until the late 1970’s, timber was being harvested from the Yunque Rainforest at alarming rates. Now, it is still a problem in terms of development and construction but the overall numbers show decreased degradation since those times. Awareness and action are the two main ways that the average person can promote sustainability for any life on land. Not all of this is shown from the photo but there is clearly still beauty in the rainforest which must be emphasized when trying to reverse land degradation and biodiversity loss.
Herzog, M. (1995). Efforts in Conservation: The Puerto Rican Parrot, Past, Present, and Future. Journal of Avian Medicine and Surgery, 9(4), 271-275.
-storage-emulated-0-DCIM-Australia Spring '18-20180614-105635
This photo was taken in early September of 2018 in el Yunque National Rainforest in Puerto Rico. The rainforest is a 44 square mile piece of land which is also the biggest block of designated public land on the entire island. It has also been designated as a wildlife refuge which means no hunting any of the animals in the rainforest.
Of all the SDGs that this photo may apply to, I am going to focus on the 15th (Life on Land) for this example. There have been many regulations and actions taken to help sustain and protect this rainforest for both our uses and the actual life that flourishes in this special place. There have been over 240 plant species found in this rainforest and several endangered animals such as the Amazona vittata (green Parrot) live in this location. Protecting these animals is very important for the ecosystem as a whole, which I believe the government has done a good job doing, but other concerns such as the protection of plant species are just as important but not as focused on. Overall a great job is being done to protect, restore, and promote sustainable uses of the land as well as the life that lives on it. Many rainforests around the world such as the Amazon and the Conga are not so lucky in terms of restrictions and the forests suffer greatly from deforestation and overharvesting which in turn has huge negative impacts on the organisms living there. From the early 1900’s until the late 1970’s, timber was being harvested from the Yunque Rainforest at alarming rates. Now, it is still a problem in terms of development and construction but the overall numbers show decreased degradation since those times. Awareness and action are the two main ways that the average person can promote sustainability for any life on land. Not all of this is shown from the photo but there is clearly still beauty in the rainforest which must be emphasized when trying to reverse land degradation and biodiversity loss.
Herzog, M. (1995). Efforts in Conservation: The Puerto Rican Parrot, Past, Present, and Future. Journal of Avian Medicine and Surgery, 9(4), 271-275.