Conserving the Environments for Plants and Animals in the ecosystem

why we Conserve the Environments for Plants and Animals While humans demand plants and animals as resources, sometimes it's their environment that holds value. Africa provides examples of forest land lost to agriculture, resulting in a loss of biodiversity. Agriculture and aquaculture replace coastal mangroves around the world, and urbanization, too, destroys the natural habitat of many species. The Philippines lost approximately half of its mangroves to aquaculture between 1968 and 1983. Conserving these environments through sustainable intensification of farming and regulations to protect remaining wild areas from development would conserve the biodiversity within them. Some efforts exist to improve these areas, but they require more work. Regulating the Market Forces for Plant and Animal Resources Elephant and rhino ivory in Africa offer an example of depleting animal resources: as these species fall prey to ivory poachers, their tusks and horns grow increasingly rare and, thus, more valuable. Buyers hoard ivory, hoping for higher value in the future. Prices for Asian tropical hardwoods like rosewood have risen as much as 90 percent in just the last year. In each case, conserving the plant and animal resources requires fighting market forces, such as placing a ban on ivory sales and restrictions on logging exports.