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Biological Corridors What is the Path of the Tapir Biological Corridor?    Those who monitor the diversity of life agree that saving ecosystems, which are home to the largest numbers of distinct species is vital to the survival of future generations. Conservation movements have been taking shape around the world in an effort to slow down the spiraling numbers of extinctions. For example, Conservation International has targeted approximately 25 “hotspots” around the world which are home to the greatest numbers of species and most threatened with destruction in order to focus conservation efforts in an attempt to save them. Biological corridors are also being created throughout the world which focus on connecting remaining patches of richly diverse natural habitats into corridors so that plants, animals, and ultimately humans, can survive.    One such biological corridor is the “Mesoamerican Biological Corridor”, which extends from southern Mexico to Columbia and serves as a biological and cultural bridge between North and South America. The initial concept of the MBC, as a focus for conservation and development projects, emerged in the 1980’s and was supported by USAID, the Wildlife Conservation Society, and by the Caribbean Conservation Corporation. Today, the MBC is endorsed by Central American Presidents and is promoted and supported by hundreds of national and international actors, including the World Bank, the United Nations and the Comision Centroamericana de Ambiente and Desarrollo.    Although now interrupted in areas and under relentless pressure from agricultural and development interests, there still remain essentially intact strips of natural habitat joining Mexico to Columbia. The same is true for the hills and mountaintops spanning Costa Rica’s southern Pacific coast. The goal is to save and connect wherever possible what patches of rainforest remain, while repairing through reforestation what already has been destroyed.    ASANA’s goal of uniting natural habitats along the southern Pacific coast of Costa Rica between the Savegre River and the Terraba River and their tributaries serve multiple purposes. While uniting this region with the larger Mesoamerican Biological Corridor originating in Mexico, it establishes an extensive, unified natural habitat of tropical primary rainforests, mangroves, secondary rainforests in varying stages of regeneration and reforested areas stretching along Costa Rica’s central and southern Pacific coast to the protected areas of the OSA Peninsula. Everyone hopes that creation of this extensive, connected habitat will encourage the elusive tapir and many other seemingly lost or endangered species to thrive once again in the region for generations to come.    Experts generally agree that on a planetary basis, the number one cause of extinction is habitat destruction or degradation. This is true because the decimation of ecosystems of plants, animals, fungi and bacteria brings with it other detrimental forces such as alien species and human hunters which more easily penetrate the interiors of remaining areas, pollution which reaches closer to core populations and disease which attacks the survivors. Substantial reductions in habitat area, many beyond 90 percent, have already occurred in numerous places around the world. Recent studies show that habitat destruction unfortunately tends to be concentrated in those regions where bio-diversity is most rich. According to Edward O. Wilson, renowned conservation biologist and two–time Pulitzer prize winning author of The Diversity of Life, the relation between shrinkage of habitat area and the loss of species, either through reduction of populations to critically endangered levels or outright extinction, has been well substantiated in many studies on the effects of deforestation and other habitat conversion.    This effect is not due solely to the loss of living space. Fragmentation of forest alone - breaking available space into pieces – has its own impact, by increasing the length of the edge of the habitat patches relative to their area. This changes the physical environment of the remaining forest at least 100 meters inward from the edge. Remaining trees are vulnerable to drying and wind damage. Trees become more fragile and lose their bio-mass and deep forest plant and animal species disappear. Why Should You Care?    People tend to react to the evidences of species extinction with varying stages of denial. Here are some commonly heard quips. “Extinction is natural” or “ species have been dying for more than 3.5 billion years with no permanent harm to the biosphere.” People argue, “evolution has always replaced extinct species with new ones.”    These half-truths, however, conceal a terrible twist. As pointed out by Edward O. Wilson, after each of the five greatest extinction spasms spaced over 400 million years at roughly 100 million year intervals, evolution required about 10 million years to restore the pre-disaster levels of diversity. This is an extremely long time for future generations to wait because of the damage we are inflicting on the environment within a few decades. Equally serious, the biosphere cannot “recover” as in previous ages if natural environments have been crowded out by artificial ones.    In another stage of denial, people ask, “Why do we need so many species anyway? Who cares about all these bugs, weeds and fungi?” We should care. Scientific studies support the conclusion that the more species living in an ecosystem, the higher its productivity and the greater its ability to withstand drought and other kinds of environmental stress. We depend on the abundance of functioning ecosystems, including all the creepy crawlies, to purify our water, enrich our soil, and manufacture clean air to breathe. Moreover, wild species, some of which are still unknown, are the source of new pharmaceuticals, crops, fibers and other products which help to sustain our lives.    The clinching argument for the protection of species, however, may in the end prove to be a moral one. Who are we to destroy the planet’s Creation? Each species around us is a masterpiece of evolution, uniquely adapted to its environment. Species living today are thousands to millions of years old, their genes having been tested by adversity over countless generations. Homo sapiens, or humans, in large part, fail to live in harmony with the natural world we inherited, ever trying to dominate it and break the cycle of life. Without drastic changes, we may succeed beyond our worst nightmares.