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Animal Abuse Resulting from Wildlife Habitat Destruction 251 only human intervention that can lead to change (for example, the spread of invasive species can transform local ecologies—although this, too, can be caused by human interventions directly [by purposefully transferring species] or indirectly [through human-caused climate changes that induce migration of species]) Many environmental harms can be characterised as natural resource crimes (for example, illegal trafficking of wildlife, illegal logging and illegal fishing) or pollution crimes (for example, illegal movement and disposal of hazardous wastes) Even when legal, such activities can nonetheless be harmful, even if subject to regulation and permit conditions Certain activities, such as both legal and illegal land grabs for the purpose of transforming forests into monoculture ‘flex crops’ (crops that can be used for food, feed, fuel or industrial material), also cause considerable environmental harm (pollution, land degradation and contribution to carbon emissions) All of these, in turn, can be linked to wider ecological threats to the planetary environment and, in the present context, threats to specific nonhuman animal species According to the United Nations there are five principle threats to biodiversity (United Nations Environment Programme 2013) These are: the unsustainable harvesting of natural resources, including plants, animals and marine species; the loss, degradation or fragmentation of ecosystems through land conversion for agriculture, forest clearing, etc.; invasive non-native or ‘alien’ species being introduced to ecosystems to which they are not adapted, i.e where they have no, or not enough, predators to maintain an ecological balance; pollution; and climate change There are complex reasons why these threats emerge as they do, and they are interlinked in a variety of ways Reduction in species includes both animals and plants This is significant insofar as complex ecosystems depend upon the interaction between all species, and any change will impact upon overall functioning This is particularly apparent with respect to forest ecosystems About 13 % of the world’s total forest area is under formal protection and almost 75 % is covered by national forest programs Yet, despite progress in the regulatory sphere and net gains in forest areas in Europe and Asia, total loss of forest cover during the last decade still averaged around 13 million hectares per year Most deforestation is occurring in tropical forests, many located in Asian countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Myanmar, with substantial biodiversity impacts:
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