CONSUMER CONCERNS...Environmental protection and animal rights need to be assimilated in the Guyanese ethos

CONSUMER CONCERNS…Environmental protection and animal rights need to be assimilated in the Guyanese ethos

Apr 23, 2017 News

By PAT DIAL
Every year in June, World Environmental Day (WED) is commemorated worldwide and wildlife has always featured as an area of concern. Last June, for instance, the focus was on eradicating “The International Illegal Trade in Wildlife”.
CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna, is in the forefront of limiting the international trade in those species which are still sustainable. On the other hand, international trade is completely banned on those which are in danger of extinction such as the Jaguar.
This concern with limiting the trade in Endangered Species is driven by the growing realization worldwide that if the biodiversity of the world is destroyed, then life on the Planet would become poorer, if not unsustainable.
Nature, despite the vast and innumerable Flora and Fauna of the world, has developed a remarkable balance between them all and if this balance is destroyed or gravely altered, all life forms will be negatively affected, including humans. We very often do not know nor could we really predict how we, as human beings would be affected.
A small example illustrating how upsetting the balance of Nature could affect human beings is gleaned from the following story: Some years ago, in New England in the North-eastern United States, the apple orchards were assailed by a plague of troublesome insects. The farmers succeeded in eradicating the insects. Next year, however, the apple crop became very poor and it was only then that the farmers realized that there were no bees and other insects to pollinate the blossoms.
Nature, over the millennia, had evolved its own methodologies of maintaining the balance. If for example, certain animals multiplied so fast, predators and other means of control could emerge. In the modern world, with its chemicals which seem to quietly impinge on all, its firearms, its ingenious animal traps, its huge ships and aircraft’s which could quickly move large amount of flora and fauna, its criminals and large modern machines capable of destroying whole forests in a very short time; with these and more, man has been able to upset the balance of nature in an extremely short time as compared with the centuries or even millennia it took in the past, but always resulting in an equilibrium.
Modern man’s destruction of the world’s biodiversity eventually negatively affects himself. The illegal international trade in flora and fauna is an example of man’s self-destructiveness.
Another reason why the illegal international trade in wildlife should be quickly eliminated is that it is destroying the basis of Guyana’s tourist industry. In the Caribbean islands, tourism is based on Sun and Sand while in Guyana it is our varied wildlife, forests and mountains which provide more lucrative attractions than Sun and Sand.
If the Illegal Wildlife Trade is not ended, it would affect the means of survival of the Indigenous people and destroy their most valuable economic resource – the basis of a lucrative tourist industry.
The Guyanese public, though they may have some idea of the results, of the destruction of the bio-diversity and the Balance of Nature, they certainly need to learn more. Unfortunately, the media and the statements of public figures on protection of biodiversity and stamping out the illegal wildlife trade treat these issues as if they were concerns of government and State only and do not affect the lives of ordinary folk. Ordinary Folk, as individuals, need to be more involved.
How could we have a successful program? In the first place, the legislation has to be strengthened and particularly, in respect of the mining and forest industries such as lumbering. The legislation must also protect the environment in general and the habitat of endangered species as well as the hunting and farming areas of the Indigenous people.
Just as important, the Education System should be oriented to socialize children about the importance of Environmental Protection and to love and respect animals.
In the 19th century, European countries did this, and it was a great civilizing force.
The three national religions of Guyana, Hinduism, Islam and Christianity, all teach respect for man, animals, and environment and such teaching should be brought to the fore.

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