Wild Tobago

This pandemic is not the first and will not be the last until there's balance in nature. Anjani Ganase considers recent disease and die-off, and wonders what it will take for Homo Sapiens to understand and respond to the actual causes We are in the midst of crisis - not a social one, but a biological one. The mass spread of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) that originated from Wuhan China as a result of the virus spilling over from an animal meat used in wildlife trade has now managed to infect the farthest reaches of the world, including isolated tribes in the Amazon, and brought our lives to a literal halt. While we are acutely aware of the diseases that directly impact our lives and livelihoods, we must consider the origins of these diseases as more than simply bad habits or bad luck. This is because the spread of diseases has increased in recent years, and we are not the only victims, but also our livestock and food crops, as well as much wildlife (Cunningham et al 201...

Do you miss the corals that are no longer on Buccoo Reef? No, but you would miss mangoes in season if there were no pollinators. In this International Year of the Reef, more corals are likely to disappear as the earth warms. Dr Anjani Ganase, marine ecologist, reminds us of other creatures endangered or already lost; and asks us to pay attention to the accelerating decline in biological diversity because of the ways that humans have changed the environment.  May 18 was World Endangered Species Day; and May 22 International Day for Biological Diversity. The reality is, as we lose more endangered species, the result is the decline of biodiversity. It is estimated that since 1970 (International Union for Conservation of Nature, IUCN), global vertebrate populations have declined by at least 30 %. Scientists warn that continued decline will result in extinctions, even potentially the sixth mass global extinction event. Humans have significantly accelerated the extinction rates of ...