What Will It Take To End Extinction?
Episode description
Speakers
- John Platt (Moderator) Editor, The Revelator
- Alex Dehgan (Speaker) CEO, Conservation X Labs
- Liba Pejchar (Speaker) Colorado State University
- George Wittemyer (Speaker) Associate Professor, Department of Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Biology, Colorado State University
Description
Can international environmental conservation grow to include the private sector and fields like economics, engineering, design, behavioral decision-making and anthropology? The answer depends on who is in the room. Some say the field of conservation is ready for a disruption. It was based on saving species through parks and preserves. Many of the underlying drivers of extinction are from humans, and species in protected areas and beyond are declining at alarming rates. Between 1970 and 2012, populations of fish, birds, mammals, amphibians and reptiles dropped by 58 percent. Current rates of species extinction are 100 to 1000 times higher than before humans had a prominent role in extinction. How can synthetic biology, understanding and sustaining biodiversity in urban systems, bringing the wild back into farmlands and protecting migration corridors save species from collapse? This wide-ranging discussion will address the latest advances in international conservation, from Agriculture to Zoology, while providing examples from research and the field.