Biodiversity, the incredible variety of life on Earth, is essential for sustaining ecosystems and human well-being. From tropical forests to vast oceans, it underpins survival, economic growth, and climate stability.
What is biodiversity?
Biodiversity, in simple terms, refers to the variety of life on Earth. According to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), it includes the diversity within species, between species, and across ecosystems—encompassing plants, animals, bacteria, and fungi. These three levels interact to sustain life on Earth in all its complexity. Today’s biodiversity is the product of 4.5 billion years of evolution, now heavily shaped by human activity.
Importance of Biodiversity
Foundation of Ecosystem Services: Biodiversity supports the ecosystems that provide essential goods and services for human survival and well-being. These can be grouped into:
Supporting services: Maintain life-sustaining processes like soil formation, nutrient cycling, and primary production.
Regulating services: Control air quality, climate, floods, soil erosion, water purification, waste treatment, pollination, and pest and disease management for humans, livestock, and agriculture.
Provisioning services: Supply resources such as food, fuelwood, fiber, biochemicals, natural medicines, pharmaceuticals, genetic materials, and freshwater.
Cultural services: Offer nonmaterial benefits, including cultural identity, spiritual and religious values, education, inspiration, aesthetic appreciation, social connections, a sense of place, recreation, and cultural heritage.
Critical for Human Survival: Biodiversity forms the web of life that sustains food, water, medicine, climate stability, and economic growth.
Economic Dependency: Over 50% of the global GDP depends on nature, and more than a billion people rely on forests for their livelihoods.
Carbon Absorption: Land and oceans absorb more than half of the world's carbon emissions, playing a key role in mitigating climate change.
Biodiversity Breakdown
Species are now vanishing at rates hundreds or even thousands of times faster than the natural background rate of extinction. Scientists have consistently warned about the triple planetary crisis: climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. Over half of the world’s GDP is moderately to highly reliant on nature, which also offers essential medicines and social benefits.
Tropical forests, which harbor over 80% of terrestrial species, boast the highest levels of biodiversity. They are vital for the livelihoods of 1.6 billion people and provide the source for a quarter of modern medicines. However, deforestation continues at an alarming pace, with 7 million hectares—an area the size of Ireland—destroyed annually, especially in tropical regions.
Oceans are equally critical, playing a major role in addressing the climate crisis and serving as a protein source for 3 billion people. They host countless species, many of which remain undiscovered, with potential to yield groundbreaking medicines and materials.
Protecting biodiversity is critical to safeguarding our planet’s future. By addressing deforestation, extinction, and climate change, we can ensure ecosystems continue to thrive and support life in all its forms.
Reference
Convention on Biological Diversity. INTERLINKAGES BETWEEN BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY AND CLIMATE CHANGE AND ADVICE ON THE INTEGRATION OF BIODIVERSITY CONSIDERATIONS INTO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE AND ITS KYOTO PROTOCOL. Retrieved December 18, 2024, from https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/execsum.pdf
UNEP. UNEP and Biodiversity. Retrieved December 18, 2024, from https://www.unep.org/unep-and-biodiversity
United Nations. Biodiversity—Our strongest natural defense against climate change. United Nations; United Nations. Retrieved December 18, 2024, from https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/science/climate-issues/biodiversity
United Nations. (2024, January 22). Biodiversity: What is it and how can we protect it?
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