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Animal Abuse Resulting from Wildlife Habitat Destruction
Summary
This book chapter explores how habitat destruction — including deforestation and land conversion — harms the health and well-being of wildlife. While focused on habitat loss rather than microplastics, it addresses the interconnected human activities that drive both plastic pollution and biodiversity decline.
This chapter explores the ways in which habitat destruction impacts upon the health and well-being of nonhuman animals. It begins by discussing the importance of, and threats to, biodiversity and in particular the negative consequences of deforestation and habitat loss on animal and plant species. The multiple reasons for deforestation are examined, including the introduction of ‘flex crops’ and greater reliance upon genetically modified organisms as part of agribusiness. The next part reviews the significance of pollution as this relates to the degradation of air, land and water habitats. Contamination comes in many forms, one of the most harmful of which is the emergent phenomenon of microplastics, which are now ubiquitous in the planet’s oceans. The third part of the chapter considers debates over preservation and conservation of habitat, and the implications these debates hold for responding to threats to habitat as these pertain to particular species of nonhuman animals.