Unsustainable use of Biodiversity

Threats to Biodiversity due to unsustainable use:-

The biodiversity of Pakistan including forests, grassland, wetlands, mountains, deserts and marine ecosystem face many anthropogenic (man-made) pressures on of the major cause of biodiversity inn Pakistan is depletion (reduction) of vegetative cover due to expansion of Agricultural land. Most of the biodiversity is present in the forests along with minerals.

Every specie of plant and animal has its own importance in the ecosystem. The over-exploitation of medicinal plant resulted drastic decline in the size of their population. Some of the high valued medicinal plants are near to extinct or critically endangered due to their over-exploitation and unsustainable use.

Factors of Loss of Biodiversity

The most common factor which can cause biodiversity loss are;

1.    Developmental pressures

Construction work, forest based industries, hydel project, mining, oil drilling, pollution, roads and transport are the major developmental pressures for biodiversity.

2.    Encroachments

Agriculture expansion of villages, fishery, grazing, habitat change, horticulture (branch of agriculture) new settlements, construction and siltation of river beds.

3.    Exploitation

Collection made by researchers, exploitation by local community for revenue generation, fire wood collection, food collection, illegal hunting, smuggling of timber wood, trophy hunting, unsustainable collecting and use of medicinal plants.

4.    Human induced disasters

Floods, major oil tank leakages, wild life depletion epidemic (a disease to particular organism or area) and intentional forest fires.

5.    Mismanagement of natural resources

Diseases, hybridization (is modified organism by human involvement), increased competition, introduction of exotic species, lack of patronage of local species, lack of pollination, dispersal of seeds and predation.

Natural/wild species	Native to an area or occurring naturally.
Naturalized species	Adopted to an area or non-local.
Exotic species	Non local, establish invasive, alien invasive.

6.    Political and policy issues

Change in legal status, political unrest, insurgency/armed conflicts, lack of clear policy implementation, political pressure, refugees and intercommunity/ethnic conflicts, they also effect the biodiversity of particular area or region.

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