“Biodiversity, the planet’s most valuable resource, is on loan to us from our children.”
- Edward O. Wilson
As I wrote about last year, 2010 was the International Year of Biodiversity. 2011 is the International Year of Forests. Unfortunately, the International Year of Biodiversity it seems failed to educate the majority of people as to the importance of biodiversity and the extremely critical situation it is in, so now 2011-2020 has been declared the International Decade of Biodiversity.
Here's a summary:
Biodiversity simply means the diversity of species on Earth.
Our world has an astonishing variety of life. The diverse multitudes of different kinds of life forms slowly evolved over billions of years, leading to the vast array of different species that exist on our planet. As far as we know, this makes the Earth unique in the universe.
Loss of biodiversity means increased endangerment and extinction of species.
Human alteration of the global environment has led to what has become the sixth major extinction event in the history of life on Earth. It is well known that biodiversity is disappearing at an alarming rate, and that this is due to human activities. Human environmental impacts have reached global proportions.
We need biodiversity to survive.
The different species that have evolved ineract to form intricate ecological networks. The diversity of species is what makes up ecosystems, and is essential for their functioning. Ecosystems, in turn, provide the individual species with the resources that they depend on to survive, including ourselves. These are generally known as "Ecosystem Services", and they include: oxygen, water filtration, air filtration, climate regulation, productive soil, food, medicine, materials, and even storm reduction and protection.
The industrial system we live in and depend on today is unsustainable, and is destroying ecosystems. Industrial agriculture, for example, has produced more food for an increasing population (almost at 7 billion people), but it has compromised the ecological integrity of the food production. Our crops are genetically altered, covered in pesticides, herbicides, and industrial fertilizers, and are mostly in the hands of the Agribusiness and Biotechnology industries. As a result, soils throughout the world are degrading and eroding and becoming barren wastelands.
Environmental issues today are becoming increasingly complex. Yet few issues are as multi-levelled and as intricate as loss of biodiversity. This is why biodiversity loss (among other things like climate change) is hard for people to get their heads around. A good resource is Sustainablog's 'Metaguide to Biodiversity'.
The main fact is that species are disappearing!
One of the most important things we can do is act. There are numerous ways that we can help biodiversity.
A great first step is to Go Green. Greening up your lifestyle, your neighbourhood, and your community is actually super fun! You can read more on how right here.
Another thing one can do is engage their community. Go to your local zoos, insectariums, arboretums, botanical gardens, and /or natural history museums, and talk to some of the people working there about nature conservation.
They can probably help refer you to like-minded people and organizations and activities.
Look up local initiatives that you can get involved with, such as the Nature Conservancy of Canada.
Most importantly, find out what's going on that is threatening wilderness. For example, there is a petition on Avaaz.org right now regarding a formerly secret proposed mega-quarry in Ontario that will pose a threat of poisoning to aquifers and rivers. Hydro-Quebec has been fighting conservationists in order to build the Great Whale dam system, that would destroy vast areas. Alberta's rich wilderness is being threatened by Tar Sands, oil, and coal development. And as I posted a few days ago, Kinder Morgan is trying to get approval for their "firm service" application that would quadruple the number of oil tankers trafficing barrels of crude along the ecologically rich, fragile West Coast.
The thing you can do is to sign petitions, and write letters and emails to politicians and policy makers to get them to ACT! One can get involved and campaign for such causes, or else one can at least support them, and get the word out, and try to live sustainably.
So just realize that these things DO make a difference, and the more people who are proactive about it, the bigger a difference we can make, and the better things will get.
Also, educate yourself - don't just believe me, check the FACTS.
Some good causes that one can support are: World Land Trust
Among issues facing us today, the rapid and continuing decline in global biodiversity has some of the widest impacts and implications. Diversity of species helps to regulate ecosystems, as well as global systems. Loss of species leads to rapid ecosystem simplification, which affects ecosystem health and functioning, and the balance of global biotic and abiotic systems. This threatens the resilience and productivity of these systems, and as a result, affects an already changing climate, disrupts and changes the composition of aquatic ecosystems (coral reefs being one of the most diverse and most highly threatened), and increases the occurence of invasive species, extreme weather events, and global pandemics. These impacts are the principal concerns, among aplethora of consequences that result from rapid biodiversity decline. Due to the complicated, multifaceted, and multi-scale nature of these systems, there may be other less immediate impacts of which we are not aware.
Rapid biodiversity decline threatens: the food chain, food security, the global climate balance, water security, soil productivity, agricultural sustainability, the availability and regeneration of resources, and also human health.
While we here in North America are disproportionately wealthy and comfortable, the poorest nations in the world are disproportionately affected by biodiversity decline, especially since they rely most directly on the services that ecosystems provide.
According to Michael Renner:
"[T]he unplanned and rapid depletion of natural systems is an important source of insecurity and stress in many societies, whether in the form of reduced food-growing potential, the worsening health of residents, or diminished habitability. Although desertification, soil erosion, deforestation, water scarcity, and the decline of fisheries are worldwide phenomena, some regions are more severely affected than others. The stress is most pronounced in regions that encompass fragile ecosystems […] and that have an economy heavily geared to agriculture. Unchecked, environmental degradation has the potential to impoverish people and undermine the long-term habitability of an area. In extreme cases, natural support systems may be weakened so severely that people have little choice but to move."
(Renner, 1996)
The diversity of an ecosystem is what determines that ecosystem's resilience. The higher a system's biodiversity, the greater its ability to withstand disturbances or shocks, or reach a new equilibrium. Global biodiversity has slowly evolved over billions of years, and continually increases in diversity, resulting in the immensely intricate ecological networks we see today. The complexities of ecological systems are the result of ever-increasing diversification of life-forms, and these systems in turn are reinforced and enhanced by diversity.
These ecosystems, composed of various species, are adversely affected by diversity decline because increasingly simplified ecosystems are less productive and increasingly vulnerable to disturbances.
The ecosystem services we depend on fall into four general categories: provisioning, supporting, regulating, and cultural services. Provisioning services are the products and resources that we obtain from ecosystems, such as food, fresh water, fuel, fibers, biochemicals for medicines, and genetic resources. Supporting services are ecosystem functions that are necessary for the production of all other ecosystem services. These services affect people more indirectly, yet are fundamental to our survival, such as soil formation, nutrient cycling primary production, photosynthesis, and water cycling. Regulating services are the ecosystem processes that regulate local, regional, and global systems, both biotic and abiotic. These services are immensely valuable, such as climate regulation, air quality regulation, natural hazard regulation, water purification and regulation, erosion regulation, disease regulation, pollination, pest regulation, and waste treatment. Some services fall into more than one category, such as pollination, which can be considered a supporting and regulating service. Ecosystems also offer humans non-material benefits, which are called cultural services. These services include recreation and ecotourism, as well as cultural, aesthetic, educational, and spiritual values. These are being increasingly studied by scientists as the connection between biodiversity and human well-being becomes better recognized and understood.
According to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA), these ecosystem services are generally in global decline. Approximately 60% of the services evaluated in the assessment were being degraded or used unsustainably. Certain services in the assessment are considered to be thriving, such as the provisional services of crops, livestock, and aquaculture. However, in many ways, industrial agriculture is contributing to the degradation of ecosystems. Industrialized food production and distribution has led to the use of unnatural fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides, and has decreased the diversity of crop species through selective cultivation and biotechnology. Also increased land conversion to agriculture is destroying a large amount of natural habitat and ecosystems. Ultimately, these provisions have increased, yet they have increased due to unsustainable agricultural practices that have contributed to biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation. To say that these ecological services are increasing or doing well is really to say that the ecological costs are not being felt.
For the majority of countries, the decline in biodiversity and ecosystems has provided substantial benefits, but at certain environmental costs. Many of the most significant changes made to ecosystems have been to provide benefits for human well-being and national development, and have been essential to meeting growing needs for food and water, among a rapidly growing human population. Agriculture, forestry, and resource exploitation have been the maistays of strategies for economic and social development for centuries.
However, such gains come at a great cost to the natural environment, and the cost and the impacts of biodiversity decline will inevitably fall on us. Some of the costs are not only the degradation of ecosystems and ecosystem services, pollution, and loss of species and habitat, but also growing inequities and disparities among groups of people. These costs are growing as populations and demand for resources, and for revenue, increase.
The ecosystem services we depend on fall into four general categories: provisioning, supporting, regulating, and cultural services. Provisioning services are the products and resources that we obtain from ecosystems, such as food, fresh water, fuel, fibers, biochemicals for medicines, and genetic resources. Supporting services are ecosystem functions that are necessary for the production of all other ecosystem services. These services affect people more indirectly, yet are fundamental to our survival, such as soil formation, nutrient cycling primary production, photosynthesis, and water cycling. Regulating services are the ecosystem processes that regulate local, regional, and global systems, both biotic and abiotic. These services are immensely valuable, such as climate regulation, air quality regulation, natural hazard regulation, water purification and regulation, erosion regulation, disease regulation, pollination, pest regulation, and waste treatment. Some services fall into more than one category, such as pollination, which can be considered a supporting and regulating service. Ecosystems also offer humans non-material benefits, which are called cultural services. These services include recreation and ecotourism, as well as cultural, aesthetic, educational, and spiritual values. These are being increasingly studied by scientists as the connection between biodiversity and human well-being becomes better recognized and understood.
According to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA), these ecosystem services are generally in global decline. Approximately 60% of the services evaluated in the assessment were being degraded or used unsustainably. Certain services in the assessment are considered to be thriving, such as the provisional services of crops, livestock, and aquaculture. However, in many ways, industrial agriculture is contributing to the degradation of ecosystems. Industrialized food production and distribution has led to the use of unnatural fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides, and has decreased the diversity of crop species through selective cultivation and biotechnology. Also increased land conversion to agriculture is destroying a large amount of natural habitat and ecosystems. Ultimately, these provisions have increased, yet they have increased due to unsustainable agricultural practices that have contributed to biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation. To say that these ecological services are increasing or doing well is really to say that the ecological costs are not being felt.
For the majority of countries, the decline in biodiversity and ecosystems has provided substantial benefits, but at certain environmental costs. Many of the most significant changes made to ecosystems have been to provide benefits for human well-being and national development, and have been essential to meeting growing needs for food and water, among a rapidly growing human population. Agriculture, forestry, and resource exploitation have been the maistays of strategies for economic and social development for centuries.
However, such gains come at a great cost to the natural environment, and the cost and the impacts of biodiversity decline will inevitably fall on us. Some of the costs are not only the degradation of ecosystems and ecosystem services, pollution, and loss of species and habitat, but also growing inequities and disparities among groups of people. These costs are growing as populations and demand for resources, and for revenue, increase.
(More to come.....)
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