... in global biodiversity are blamed almost exclusively on human actions. It is necessary, therefore, first to identify which human activities have affected the stability of biological populations and driven species to extinction; and second to look at the factors which make these populations vulnerable to extinction. Third, we must look at various ways in which socio-economic or political factors in different regions of the world may have contributed to this process of global biodiversity loss. Before doing so, however, we must define what we mean by biodiversity. Wilson (1996) states that, 'Biodiversity is the hereditarily based variation of all levels of organisation, from genes within a single local population of species, to the species composing all or part of a local community'. This definition supports the general consensus that biodiversity needs to be considered at three levels: species, genes and ecosystems. Biological diversity at the species level includes the full range ...

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