This text is taken from the “Courrier de la planete” of May 31, 2022. To subscribe, click here.
In 2010, the 190 member countries of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) set themselves 20 targets, commonly known as the Aichi targets, to tackle biodiversity loss. Ten years later, only 6 objectives have been partially achieved and none have been fully achieved.
In parallel to this dark observation, some happy stories have nevertheless taken place in recent decades. Today, The duty looks at the case of Europe, where several species on the brink of extinction have been reintroduced through conservation efforts.
In a report entitled “Wildlife Comeback in Europe”, published in 2013, scientists collected data on the evolution of mammal populations in Europe since 1960.
Result: there were thirty times more European bison than 50 years earlier. They had, however, become extinct in the wild at the beginning of the 20th century, due to heavy hunting pressure and the loss of their habitat.
The European beaver has had the most remarkable recovery, with an increase of 14,000%. The researchers also counted ten times more gray seals, five times more red deer and four times more wild boar and gray wolves than 50 years earlier.
Only the Iberian lynx did not show signs of recovery at the time the report was published. The species has, however, experienced an upswing in the past decade, moving from the Critically Endangered to Endangered category on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s list of threatened species ( IUCN) in 2015.
How can this reconstitution of mammal populations be explained? In short, several countries have implemented increased protection policies, such as complete hunting bans or quotas, legal protection of designated areas, patrols to catch illegal poachers, and compensation schemes for the breeding of certain species. species.
This was the case for the European bison. After a breeding and reintroduction program based on 54 individuals remaining in captivity, wild populations have been re-established in parts of central and eastern Europe. The first reintroduction took place in 1952 in Białowieża Forest, Poland, and then the population started breeding in 1957, coinciding with the upward trend.
For its part, the gray seal was able to recover because of legal protection. The species became protected throughout its European range in the 20th century. As overexploitation has been responsible for the decline of once abundant populations, these protective measures have contributed to the recolonization of much of the continent.
Despite the resurgence of these many European mammals, the findings of this report should be seen in the context of significant historical declines, as many species have still not reached their original, pre-decline levels.