Before They Vanish: Saving Nature’s Populations – and Ourselves

This is timely as it emphasises the need for conservation when climate change appears to be becoming reality, given the breaking of many meteorological/climatological records in 2024/2025. Three notable ecologists have collaborated to highlight the vital connection between people; environment; and plant, animal and insect populations, plus the ‘brink’ situations many such relationships are now experiencing. The authors are promoting an approach to conservation that departs from the conventional – for example, from late-stage action when an entire species is embattled to working at more localised situations before they become acute. 

Following a survey of five mass geological extinctions, a notable difference between past episodes and current events is apparent – the speed at which extinctions are occurring. This largely human-induced event is proceeding at a rapid rate with no geological precedent. Specific examples include lost and disappearing mammals, birds and amphibians. Less obvious but just as significant are threatened invertebrates. Plants are also affected, with implications for organisms that rely on them. Less well understood are microbes and their involvement in biogeochemical cycles, agriculture and the like.

So what can be done? Education at all levels is vital, as are national and international observers, conservation measures and effective monitoring. Protection of natural ecosystems on scales from the local to the international is vital. Examples include the creation of local and national parks and forests, nature reserves and biodiversity hot spots. Beyond reserves, offsets are proposed, as are biological corridors, the encouragement of mutually beneficial species, species reintroduction and killing off introduced species that cause endemic losses.

This book is relevant to all humanity. So is the action needed to maintain an environment suitable for all.

Dr A M Mannion

Reviewed by Dr A M Mannion, Honorary Fellow at the University of Reading Department of Geography