Erosion of biological diversity


  • Biodiversity loss
  • Decreasing biodiversity
  • Loss of biodiversity
  • Degradation of biodiversity
  • Biodiversity crisis

Nature

The variety of natural life forms, whether eco-regions, habitats, species or gene pools, is being endangered by human activity. This biodiversity ensures the regeneration of harvested resources and the maintenance of ecological processes, whether as a vital part of world heritage or for its own sake. It also provides resources for the development and improvement of domesticated crops and livestock, for recreation and tourism, and for research and education.

At the broadest level, biodiversity loss is driven by economic systems and policies that fail to value properly the environment and its resources, legal and institutional systems that promote unsustainable exploitation, and inequity in ownership and access to natural resources, including the benefits from their use. While some species are under direct threat, for example from hunting, poaching and illegal trade, the major threats come from changes in land use leading to the destruction, alteration or fragmentation of habitats.

Background

Steps to achieve the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, and to minimise the adverse impacts of activities are necessary, but not sufficient, to address the loss of biodiversity. Underpinning the crisis is a complex array of inter-related social, economic, political and demographic factors. These include institutional failures to regulate the use of biological resources; economic systems that fail to recognize the true value of biodiversity; inequity in the ownership, management and flow of benefits from the conservation and use of biological resources; high levels of poverty; and a lack of knowledge about the way in which natural systems function.

Ultimately, human impacts on biodiversity depend upon two key factors: the number of people using natural resources; and the rates at which they consume those resources. Increasing human populations and unsustainable rates of resource consumption both lead to a growth in demand for natural resources, and therefore an increase in the impact on biodiversity. Because the natural resource base is limited, it is important to consider ways in which a balance can be struck between the use of resources, and the capacity of ecological systems to renew resources and to absorb wastes.

All species, as well as all individuals within a species, have a finite life span and thus changes in biodiversity are inevitable. Accelerated and enhanced reduction in diversity at gene, species and ecosystem level, however, is not only intrinsically undesirable but a significant threat to human material welfare because it implies reduced ability of ecosystems to provide key products and services.

Incidence

The main levels of diversity of concern are: ecosystem diversity (the number and frequency of different communities of organisms and their environments); species diversity (the number and frequency of different species); and genetic diversity (meaning both genetic variability and the number and frequency of genetically distinct populations).

The energy and transport sectors have a global and regional impact on biodiversity through climate change and acidification. Additionally, the development of infrastructures for transport and for energy production may have a more local impact on biodiversity.

Niger has lost 80 per cent of its freshwater wetlands during the past two decades, two-thirds of Asian wildlife habitats have been destroyed with the most acute losses in the Indian sub-continent, China, Vietnam and Thailand and, in the Latin American region, the average annual deforestation rate during 1990-95 was 2.1 per cent in Central America and more than 1 per cent in Paraguay, Ecuador, Bolivia and Venezuela.

According to a 1999 report, in the USA, 37 percent of freshwater fish were at risk of extinction, 50 percent of crayfish and 40 percent of amphibians were emperiled, and 67 percent of freshwater mussels were extinct or vulnerable to extinction.

Claim

  1. As we become more aware of the interdependency of humans with other living creatures on earth, aware of the fact that we all belong to the same ecosystem, we may be in danger of discovering too late that human survival depends on the survival of species that we are thoughtlessly exterminating. We owe it to our descendants to ensure that we do not commit this ultimate crime against the environment.

  2. You lose a mountain, you lose it - you can't regrow it. If you cut the forests, you can grow them back, but you lose the biodiversity - the plants, the animals.

  3. The root cause of much biodiversity loss, especially in the tropics, is the desire of the world's poor to better their lives.

  4. There is a coming biological holocaust. We know from the five great mass extinction episodes of the prehistoric past that it will take at least 5 million years and possibly much longer to repair the damage. If we don't do enough to prevent this mass extinction and let several million species disappear from the face of the Earth, this will be far and away the biggest decision ever made by one generation for future generations. We will be regarded as perhaps the most irresponsible generation in the history of the planet.

Narrower

  1. Vulnerability of world genetic resources
  2. Vulnerability of food chains
  3. Vulnerability of ecosystem niches
  4. Threatened biodiversity hotspots
  5. Loss of urban biodiversity
  6. Loss of terrestrial biodiversity
  7. Loss of indigenous biodiversity
  8. Loss of freshwater biodiversity
  9. Loss of domestic biodiversity
  10. Loss of cross-border biodiversity
  11. Loss of biodiversity through pollution
  12. Loss of biodiversity through inappropriate application of technology
  13. Loss of biodiversity in rural areas
  14. Loss of biodiversity during complex emergencies
  15. Loss of beneficial plants and animals
  16. Loss of agricultural biodiversity
  17. Lack of integrated management of biodiversity
  18. Lack of information on biodiversity
  19. Indiscriminate destruction of weeds
  20. Food insecurity through erosion of biodiversity
  21. Extinction of rainforest species
  22. Exploitation of forest biological resources
  23. Erosion of marine biological diversity
  24. Erosion of biodiversity through the release of genetically modified species
  25. Erosion of biodiversity through desertification
  26. Erosion of biodiversity through cultivation
  27. Disruption of biodiversity through climate change
  28. Decreasing diversity of biological species
  29. Biodiversity loss through rapid environmental change

Web page

  1. Biodiversity
  2. Biodiversity loss – it will make you sick
  3. Biodiversity loss accelerates with 1 million species at risk of extinction, UN report finds
  4. Biodiversity Loss Is as Big a Crisis as Climate Change
  5. Biodiversity Loss: An Existential Risk Comparable to Climate Change
  6. Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture
  7. Scientist sheds light on complexity of biodiversity loss
  8. Global biodiversity loss from tropical deforestation
  9. The socio-economic costs of biodiversity loss
  10. Biodiversity A Global Outlook
  11. Biodiversity loss and its impact on humanity
  12. Biodiversity loss – more than an environmental emergency
  13. Ecosystem effects of biodiversity loss could rival impacts of climate change, pollution
  14. Why Should Humans Care About Biodiversity Loss?
  15. What The UN Report On Biodiversity Loss Means For The World's Driest Places
  16. ’Unprecedented’ loss of biodiversity threatens humanity, report finds
  17. To Tell the Story of Biodiversity Loss, Make It About Humans
  18. Biodiversity Loss
  19. How does Biodiversity loss affect me and everyone else?
  20. The web of life

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