Imagine: The Half-Earth Project

E.O. Wilson Foundation

“Unless humanity learns a great deal more about global biodiversity and moves quickly to protect it, we will soon lose most of the species composing life on Earth.” – E.O. Wilson (1929–2021)

Staying on the subject of land, for this week I’d like to share an intriguing project proposed by the renowned entomologist, E.O. Wilson, who died last year. He is most known for his study of ants and the phenomenal book, The Diversity of Life, where he shows how all of our natural systems are interconnected and interdependent, and rely on diversity. He and many other scientists say that we are  currently going through a sixth mass extinction of species, which will impact all of life. 

The Half-Earth Project

All living species depend on suitable habitat. As a final plea before his death in 2021, Wilson proposed the half-earth project, an audacious goal to protect half of the earth’s surface as natural habitat in order to stave off this mass extinction. 

Why Half? There is a theory of island biodiversity, where a change in the area of habitat affects the number of species that can sustainably live there. I won’t go into the math, but they say as an example, if 90% of natural habitat is no longer available, the number of species that can live there is reduced by half. The thinking is that if half of the global surface can be protected as livable habitat, 85% or more of species can live sustainably. This is a safe zone for life on earth.

While it sounds impossible, Wilson felt that it was very possible. His foundation first prepared a global map of the current situation, and identified areas to focus on; for example, the California redwood forest, the Amazon River basin, and the grasslands of the Serengeti. You can look on the map and see how your country is doing (See Resources below).

I checked out my country of Canada and found that 13% of our massive land area is protected. The country scores 78 out of 100, 38th in the world, which is considered quite high. Shows how far we have to go on a global scale. 

The foundation also offers programs - one for teachers, where they can engage with each other and their students in Half-Earth projects, and another to help foster the next generation of conservation scientists and leaders. 

Practice

While the half-earth project is global, I’m introducing it here to get you thinking about what this might look like in your place or even your own backyard. 

Map (Google it) the natural habitat areas of your place. How are areas being preserved or not? When I searched for a map of my town, I saw small ribbons of natural habitat, most of which is designated Greenbelt, which I mentioned in my post last week, that preserves agricultural land along with natural habitat. We are also lucky to be home to the Niagara Escarpment, which has been designated as a protected biosphere by UNESCO. The large rock formations and dense forest are a hiker’s paradise. The escarpment supports hundreds of species of plants, animals, and birds, yet more than one hundred species are considered threatened or endangered. 

If you own land, how can you allow for greater biodiversity? Could you protect half of your land as natural habitat? 

Here’s an example of how one teacher in Vermont is using the foundation program to get kids thinking locally about the biodiversity in their own backyards. 

In the book, The Nature Principle, Richard Louv writes about Karen Harwell, a San Francisco resident, who also happens to be the co-creator of Exploring a Sense of Place, which inspired this Seeing your Place project. Harwell walks the talk, as she has transformed her 600 square foot home into a natural paradise. On her small property, she provides a home for ducks, has a beehive, 18 fruit trees, an organic vegetable garden, and places to sit and read and think. Her efforts have inspired her neighbours, especially the children and teenagers. She enlists their help in nurturing the garden, and then shares the bounty with them. There is a ripple effect to this kind of work. 

Resources

Discover the Half-Earth Project

The Half-Earth Book by E.O. Wilson

Watch Wilson talk about the project on PBS (6:30 mins) via YouTube. He also gives a local example from his own home in Mobile, Alabama.