Biodiversity and Why It is Important

Recently I woke to some depressing (though unexpected) news; human beings are threatening the very biodiversity on Earth on a grander scale than ever before. The take away being that more than one million species of plants and animals are currently facing a threat of extinction.

What is Biodiversity?

When we say biodiversity we mean the viability and diversity of life on our planet. This means species of animals, plants, bacteria, viruses, fungi… all life.

Why is it Under Threat?

Climate change, over-fishing, pollution, fossil fuel extraction and consumption, deforestation, agricultural advancement and expansionism have all contributed to a heartbreaking decline in life on our planet.

What this means is that Humanity itself is triggering a mass extinction event. In 3.5 billion years of life on Earth, there have been five mass extinction events. The most recent occurred 65 million years; the dinosaurs. Many scientists believe the significant amount of loss of life over the course of human history puts us now at a sixth event.

The source of this news, a report released by the UN’s Environmental Programme claims “The health of ecosystems on which we and all other species depend is deteriorating more rapidly than ever”. The five-year study paints a grim picture and the message it goes on to give is that significant changes need to happen immediately to correct this.

Why is biodiversity important?

Biodiversity is important to humans.

It’s important to the planet as a whole but let’s be clear on a purely selfish level this it is important to humanity as a whole.

In other words, it is self-defeating for us to be working against nature on this!

The ingredients for our food whatever your dietary situation benefits or directly comes from life in this planet. Medicinal ingredients also do as do the ingredients to most products we rely on daily.

Plants of course produce oxygen (you know that thing we breathe), bees pollinate which spread the plant life (also nuts and fruits are included here). Trees absorb pollution. Marshlands, coral reefs and wetlands all serve environmental benefits that impact us.

Insects in their various forms play massive roles when it comes to the natural production of food or viability of water.

What Do We Do?

Our survivability is dramatically reduced by ignoring the damage done.

Politically, there is much that various world leaders and people in positions of power and decision need to be doing. The hope is that the official findings of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) will force more discussions to take place and lead to more decisive action.

However, what we can all do and should be doing is being mindful of our waste and our carbon emissions.

Start asking questions like:

• Can I take this journey in a more energy-efficient way?
• Does this product contain plastics that are unnecessary?
• What is the carbon footprint of the products I buy? Could I find something that is less?

Then build from there.  Habitat loss is the primary factor in the significant loss of life on our planet.  So, preservation and restoration are critical!  You could consider supporting the National Trust (or equivalents where you live) that take the environment seriously.

Do more. You don’t have to be the one to solve the whole crisis, you don’t even need to change your whole lifestyle but start doing something and see where that leads.

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