Herefordshire Biodiversity Partnership

Importance of Biodiversity

The world is losing species and habitats at an accelerated rate as a result of human activity. Evolution cannot keep up with the rate of loss and change and does not have time to compensate. There are many reasons why conservation of biodiversity might be considered important:

 

• Species that have evolved over thousands or millions of years may be lost very quickly and cannot be recreated. Current estimates suggest that it will take millions of years of evolution before the total number of species on earth recovers from the losses we are now inflicting. There is considerable uncertainty about the values, including economic values, which future generations may attach to biodiversity.
• Biological organisms do not live in isolation from each other, rather they are interdependent. The loss of one may affect the capacity of many others to survive.
• Conservation of biodiversity can be viewed as insurance. Our future practical needs are unpredictable and our understanding of ecosystems is insufficient to be certain of the impact of removing any component. The less diverse biological systems are, the less likely they are to be able to adapt to and survive change.
• Loss of biodiversity is therefore another de-stabilising factor, in a world already changing unpredictably in response to almost certain climate change, continuing ozone depletion, and global pollution of many kinds. It thereby increases the potential for change and our uncertainty about what that change might bring.
• Natural processes help to protect our planet, the human environment and provide 'environmental services'. For example wetlands, comprising a complex of soils, microbes and plants, act as natural filters for surface waters and also provide natural flood prevention and control systems. Woods and hedges act as windbreaks. Upland vegetation prevents soil erosion.
• Biological resources may be renewable but, in human terms, may take a great deal of time to recover.
• Some species have direct commercial value, such as through forestry. Others have potential value in the future development of medicines, fibres or through 'eco-tourism'.
• In maintaining the productivity of our crops we depend upon a reservoir of wild relatives and a pool of genetic material that we can go back to, in order to reinforce our selection.

The moral and aesthetic reasons for conserving biodiversity are less tangible but of considerable importance. The culture of a nation is closely allied to its landscapes and wildlife. Poets, painters, writers and composers have been inspired by the nature around them.

The UK Biodiversity Action Plan states that:

'Our planet's essential goods and services depend upon the variety and variability of genes, species, populations and ecosystems. Biological resources feed and clothe us and provide medicines and spiritual nourishment. The natural ecosystems of forests, savannahs, pastures and rangelands, tundras, rivers, lakes and seas contain most of the Earth's biodiversity. Farmers' fields and gardens are also of great importance... The current decline in biodiversity is largely the result of human activity and represents a serious threat to human development.'