Preserving Biodiversity is Critically Important for Our Planet’s Future

When discussing conservation, we mean managing, protecting, and restoring our natural resources and wildlife. Water and forests are very important natural resources that protect our environment. Keeping that in view, it is imperative that we consider offering safeguards and protection to our biodiversity as well as natural habitats.

Both of them are currently under severe threat due to rampant deforestation and unsustainable urbanization. Several other human activities of the last few generations have been responsible for many negative consequences that may become a burden for future generations.

When we talk about biodiversity, we do not simply mean plants, animals, microbes, and ecosystems, but also the following:

• Genes
• Species
• Organisms
• Ecological levels

It protects the integrity of the environment, aesthetic value, and the welfare of all animals. Biodiversity must be protected for all living organisms and their environments to survive.

There are three main objectives of biodiversity conservation, which are:

• To maintain and protect different species.
• Sustainable utilization of different species and ecosystems.
• To maintain the entire life-supporting systems and all other essential ecological processes.

In this post, we now have a detailed view of the importance of biodiversity conservation.

Why biodiversity is important?

The world will enjoy many different organisms and ecosystems if we protect biodiversity. We will enjoy the benefits of medical breakthroughs, mental wellness, and a much stronger economy. Let us further explore a few more benefits of biodiversity.

Food security

The Food and Agriculture Organization FAO of the United Nations underscores biodiversity’s pivotal role in upholding global food security. Without it, the food chain’s key plants and animals face heightened vulnerability to pests and disease, exacerbating pressure on agricultural species. Diminishing pollinator populations further threaten food production, as over one-third of global crops depend on them. Thousands of bees, butterfly, moth, and mammal species serve as vital pollinators.

While manual pollination offers some respite, it pales in efficiency compared to natural methods. As these “miracle workers” dwindle, sustaining the production of fruits, vegetables, and nuts becomes increasingly challenging.

Job creation and financial stability

Biodiversity fuels diverse job opportunities across sectors like forestry, agriculture, and medicine, providing stable livelihoods. Declining biodiversity threatens businesses and job availability. However, investing in biodiversity initiatives can create fulfilling, purpose-driven jobs. Reports indicate potential for 20 million new jobs alongside existing nature-based solution roles.

Climate change resistance

Loss of biodiversity and climate change are closely related. Climate change, largely caused by human activity that increases greenhouse gas emissions and decreases carbon capture, is what drives biodiversity loss.Many species are restricted to withstanding particular climatic conditions, and few are able to adapt quickly enough to keep up with the high tempo of climate change. Increasing biodiversity can help to preserve some natural habitats.

“Certain species are forced to abandon habitats where they must have spent several of years evolving.” says Dr. Adriana De Palma of the Natural History Museum in the UK. They are becoming inhospitable in some locations due to climate change because we have already taken away so much of nature’s territory that sometimes they have nowhere to run.”

Treatment of diseases

The medical field looks to biodiversity to create innovative, perhaps life-saving therapies. The raw ingredients needed for successful medication discovery and biotechnology advancements also decrease as this does. The bulk of today’s best-selling prescription medications are among the forty percent of Western medications that come from plants that people have used for generations, according to the US Forest Service.

Numerous possible remedies might be hidden in a variety of habitats, but not if we destroy those habitats in the interim. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) reports that “the untapped potential that exists for future drug discovery and several other medical insights from biodiversity can be quite vast, but now it is diminishing due to biodiversity loss.”

Human protection

We have discussed a few of the several ways that biodiversity affects the human population, including how our economy and the availability of food are affected. Generally speaking, human survival is enhanced in a world that is biologically diversified and sustainable. It will affect our overall health and prosperity as well as our business, commercial activities, and financial progress.

Our mental health is likely to benefit significantly due to exposure to and interaction with various ecosystems, which has also been confirmed by several studies by environmental experts in several countries. We can always flourish when we become part of a certain diverse and robust environment, and when we lose this, then all our means of subsistence, our health, and our standard of living may also vanish.

Economic impact

It is possible to suggest that the decline in biodiversity is a sign of an impending financial crisis. The agriculture industry is the one where this issue is most pressing, but there are concerning business ramifications in many other industries as well. The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) estimates that the economic advantages of biodiversity—which include air and water filtration, carbon storage, and, of course, food provisioning—are more than twice as large as the global GDP, or more than $150 trillion annually.

Ecosystem reductions significantly raise corporate costs, as experts at BCG note out. These costs typically manifest as rising raw material costs. Disruptions to the supply chain can also happen, which can result in rising expenses and a degree of uncertainty that makes forecasting challenging. Concerns about reputation need to be taken into account going future.

Customers will be more likely to hold corporate executives accountable as they become more concerned about the mounting dangers to biodiversity. Eco-aware customers, who are more determined than ever to vote with their wallets, will be more engaged and devoted to businesses that make evident efforts to protect biodiversity.

Conclusion

For the future of human health and to preserve the rich natural history of the world, biodiversity conservation is very important. We need to protect our environment by growing more trees, essential for maintaining the climate. Our development process must properly care for the environment by conserving biodiversity, which is important for our economic growth and poverty alleviation