HALF EARTH PROJECTBY

Saurabh Pandey

Junior research fellow(JRF)

NET, MA, B.TECH

3 Years teaching experience

UPSC Faculty

Facebook page—

saurabhpandey009

• In the past half-century, species that were once

virtually innumerable have practically

disappeared from the Earth.

• The rate of extinction is at least 1,000

times higher than at any time in human

history. To lose so much of Earth’s

biodiversity is both to destroy our living

heritage, and to risk the stability of the planet

itself.

• As this century’s most eminent

biologist E.O. Wilson advocates in his

book, Half-Earth, if we conserve

half the land and sea, the bulk of

biodiversity will be protected

from extinction.

• The Half-Earth

Project’s programs convene

expert partners and leaders in

an inspiring campaign to raise

conservation efforts to a new

level and enhance our

resilience.

The Half-Earth Project will

1) drive the research needed to better understand and care

for our world,

2) provide leadership to guide conservation efforts, and

3) engage people to participate broadly in the transcendent

goal to conserve Half-Earth.

• Field Research

The Global Biodiversity Census Initiative (GBCI) is developing

a comprehensive database of the earth’s vast biodiversity and using

this data as a fundamental tool for conservation.

• The goal of the GBCI is to generate the global biodiversity

knowledge needed to inform and promote conservation

towards Half-Earth.

• The Mapping Core Team of the Half-Earth Project will

address this question through deep scientific

analysis and visually engaging mapping.

• The Half-Earth Mapping Core will provide expertise,

leadership and visually engaging maps to guide

conservation efforts towards the goal of Half-Earth.

• Data Integration

Analyze the status of protected areas and governance

worldwide, integrating data regarding the historical

distribution of biodiversity, human population,

biodiversity richness, extinction risk, corridor

opportunities, and landscape and cultural values to

support the creation of dynamic & interactive maps.

• In order to reach a broad audience, the Half-Earth

Project will create exhibits and film, and

communicate and engage through social

media and concerts that create a transformative

experience around the need to care for the rest of

our planet, seeding establishment of a movement

culture that supports the goal of Half-Earth.

• The inaugural Half-Earth Day was held on

October 23 in Washington, D.C..

• India’s forest policy calls for forests to cover almost

a third of the country (33%), and if we include

other natural systems such as grasslands and

wetlands, the area to be protected could

amount to almost 40%.

• .

We need a massive new effort to catalogue, map, and monitor life, using

fundamentally different approaches.

• Current efforts to map India’s biodiversity are largely restricted to

forestlands, while plans for species monitoring are even more

inadequate.

• Today, we have the digital tools and artificial intelligence today to

efficiently catalogue, map, and monitor life’s fabric in a manner

never before attempted — and with the potential engagement of millions

of students and citizens.

• This mapping effort would include not only all life, including

cultures, ethnicities, and dialects, but also the use of biodiversity and

its vulnerability to changes in land use and climate.

• .

• It is important to understand how society interacts with

biodiversity, and how economic, social and political

forces can erode the biodiversity that ultimately

sustains us.

• It is important to learn how myriad species interact to drive our

ecosystems, and how these systems in turn maintain our soils,

water and breathable air.

• For instance, it is vital to learn how the wild pollinators, the

microbiota of soils, and the many enemies of agricultural

pests — and many other natural services — underpin our

agricultural productivity and mitigate climate change.