I spent some of the most exciting days of my life working on the eastern shores of Kenya’s Lake Turkana, searching for the fossilized remains of our early ancestors. We did not always find what we wanted, but every day there was much more to discover than the traces of our own predecessors. The environment was not too different from the wetter grasslands of Africa today, but it was full of amazing animals that are now long extinct. There were probably more than twice as many species a million years ago as there are today.
That was true not just for Africa. It is estimated that more than 95% of the species that have existed over the past 600 million years are gone. So, should we be concerned about the current spasm of extinction, which has been accelerated by the inexorable expansion of agriculture and industry? I believe it is. But dealing with the extinction crisis is no simple matter, since much of the world’s biodiversity resides in its poorest nations, especially in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Can such countries justify setting aside national parks and nature reserves where human encroachment and even access is forbidden?
Such questions make me uneasy about promoting wildlife conservation in impoverished nations. Nevertheless, I believe that we can and should do a great deal. People in poor countries should not be asked to choose between their own short-term survival and long-term environmental needs. It their government are willing to protect the environment, the money needed should come from international sources. To me, the choice is clear, either the more affluent world helps now or the world as a whole will lose out.
Of course, we must be careful not to allow the establishment of slush funds or rely on short-term, haphazard handouts that would probably do to waste. We need a permanent global endowment devoted to wildlife protection, funded primarily by the governments of the industrial nations and international aid agencies. The principal could remain invested in the donor nations as the interest flowed steadily into conservation efforts.
A major challenge for the 21st century is to preserve as much of our natural estate as possible. Let us call upon the world’s richest nations to provide the money to make that possible. That would not be a contribution to charity; it would be an investment in the future of humanity and all life on Earth.
1. What was the purpose of the author’s research work on the eastern shores of Kenya’s Lake Turkana?
2. What makes it difficult for us to deal with the extinction crisis?
3. What way is suggested by the author for poor countries to protect the environment?
4. Which of the following statements is not true according to the passage?
5. How does the author sound toward the issue in writing this passage?