Drawing on the author's personal experiences working across the globe, this book explains why we need to conserve biodiversity, the threats it faces, how we can successfully conserve biodiversity and some success stories of how we have.
This is a personal journey from environmental vandal to internationally renowned conservationist. The book follows the authors' life and career in conservation, from scarring koala feed trees to being chased by elephants, sniffed by lions, gored by quokkas and watched by wolves. It mixes robust facts with fun stories to engage a broad audience spanning the general public to academics, and enthuse them into promoting the conservation of the plants and animals humanity relies on. Split into four sections, the first explains why we should conserve nature and the value it holds. Section 2 discusses the threats to biodiversity, and Section 3 describes the authors' personal experiences in conserving biodiversity, from creating protected areas, managing invasive species, reintroduction programmes and the social policies we need to enact to ensure biodiversity persists. Section 4 provides examples of conservation success stories from across the globe and the book concludes by looking at the big-picture issues society needs to address to ensure future generations get to experience the same degree of beauty of the natural world that we have.
This book is a must-read for all concerned with conserving nature and sustaining our planet.
Section 1. Introduction
Section 2. Threats to biodiversity
Section 3. Conserving Biodiversity
Section 4. Conservation Success Stories
Section 5. Societal Changes Needed to Conserve Biodiversity
Section 6. Conclusion
Matt W. Hayward is a Professor in the School of Environmental and Life Sciences at the University of Newcastle, Australia. He has worked across the globe researching and managing biodiversity as an environmental consultant, conservation manager and researcher in the private sector, for environmental NGOs, government and now in academia.