Biodiversity: Why It’s Loss Is A Concern

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Biodiversity is the term given to the variety of life on earth. The United Nations’ Convention on Biological Diversity defines biodiversity as ” the variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this include diversity within species.”

Biodiversity in our environment is crucial to sustaining human livelihoods. People especially in developing countries are dependent on continued diversity, that is why the government strive to maintain and conserve it. The great wealth of plant and animal species and their interactions with one another, and with the environment, made earth habitable for humans.

Major causes of biodiversity loss are extraction, over-exploitation, land-use change, climate change and the suppression of native species by newly introduced invasive species. Natural disasters and wars contribute, too, to the loss of biodiversity. If the loss of biodiversity is to be halted, the political will of policy makers and society at large must be converted into implementation and action. Decisions on the conservation and use of biodiversity must involve the people affected. Sufficient incentive to promote biodiversity sustainability, for example, managing a forest rather than cutting it down. Industrialization of agriculture must not take place at the expense of biodiversity. Making people who are affected to have a fair share in the profits arising from the use of their biodiversity.