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The Conversation
The Conversation
Environment
Erik Meijaard, Adjunct Professor of Conservation, University of Kent

Orangutans: could 'half-Earth' conservation save the red ape?

lukaszemanphoto / shutterstock

Half-Earth is a proposal by the late naturalist and “father of biodiversity”, EO Wilson. In its original context, it proposes that half of the Earth’s surface should be designated a human-free nature reserve to preserve biodiversity.

The proposal of course raises some pretty big questions. What happens to the people that happen to live in the areas designated to become human free? Would we give up on biodiversity in the other half of Earth? And whose half should be chosen and who decides? Would richer countries continue on their current path and tell poorer nations, especially those in the tropics with relatively intact forests and marine systems, that their part of the world will from now on only be for nature?

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