Halt Extinction, Protect Genetic Diversity and Manage Human Wildlife Conflict
Ensure urgent management actions to halt human induced extinction of known threatened species and for the recovery and conservation of species, in particular threatened species, to significantly reduce extinction risk, as well as to maintain and restore the genetic diversity within and between populations of native, wild and domesticated species to maintain their adaptive potential, including through in situ and ex situ conservation and sustainable management practices, and effectively manage human-wildlife interactions to minimize human-wildlife conflict for coexistence.
Why is this target important?
Habitat loss has been catastrophic for biodiversity, as discussed in Targets 1, 2, and 3. We have compounded the damage by hunting countless species to extinction. In a self-destructive and often irreversible way, we are unraveling the delicate web of life that sustains us. Species are vanishing at an alarming rate. The causes go beyond simple greed and selfishness, though those factors are undeniable—like when poachers slaughter elephants for ivory. Mass extinction, however, is driven by deeper, more systemic forces.
Wildlife faces the greatest threats in regions plagued by conflict and poverty, where survival often takes precedence over conservation. Lasting solutions requires building peaceful, democratic societies. This is particularly urgent in Africa, where colonial rule—and the corruption that followed as multinational corporations replaced monarchs—shattered stable societies. It is easy to condemn horrific groups like Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army, but it was the West’s insatiable greed that tore Africa apart. Generations of ruthless exploitation have fueled cycles of poverty and conflict that persist today.
Even now, foreign nations and corporations profit from Africa’s natural resources by propping up undemocratic regimes. As long as these commercial interests dictate the region’s fate, true independence and democracy will remain out of reach, conflict will persist, and the exploitation of both people and animals will continue.
In more stable regions, poverty remains a key driver of extinction. Any person would kill a threatened animal if their child’s life depended on it. Morals are easy when you can afford them. This stark reality underscores a fundamental truth: conservation is inseparable from democracy and economic justice.