The United Nations proclaimed 2010 as the International Year of Biodiversity (IYB). The celebration’s theme is “Biodiversity is life. Biodiversity is our life.” With this, people all over the world are working to safeguard the vast irreplaceable natural wealth and lessen biodiversity loss.
IYB is an initiative of the United Nations Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (SCBD) which aims to raise public awareness on the importance of biodiversity and the consequences of its loss. It will also promote the engagement of the public and other sectors for the implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Successes in realizing the target of achieving a significant reduction in the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010 will also be celebrated this year.
The International Year of Biodiversity is an opportune time to increase the awareness and understanding of the importance of biodiversity in sustaining life on earth.
But first, we have to know what biodiversity is and its importance before we can fully work towards its protection and conservation. Only a small portion of Southeast Asia ’s over 500 million people know what biodiversity means.
What is biodiversity?
Biodiversity covers the full range of ecosystems, their component species, and the genetic variety of those species produced by nature or through human intervention. The world grows, moves, changes and reproduces, from the smallest to the largest, because of biodiversity.
Importance of Biodiversity
As food source. Biodiversity is the web of life. It is where we get the food we eat. Nature provides the plant and animal resources for our food. Biodiversity makes an essential contribution to feeding the world by providing fish, pork, beef, grains, and fruits for nutrition to people all over the world.
According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, “of the 7,000 species of plants that have been domesticated over the 10,000-year history of agriculture, only 30 percent account for the cast majority of the food we eat every day.
As medicinal source. A wide range of medicinal resources and pharmaceutical drugs come from biodiversity. Plants, particularly the herbs, have been known to have preventive, curative and therapeutic properties. Using plants and animals as medicinal sources have been practiced by our forefathers millions of years ago.
If we do not work to prevent the fast and continued loss of our biodiversity, we will be losing around 13 million hectares of its forest cover each year. If this happens, we would have a hard time developing better kinds of medicine to cure both existing and emerging illnesses.
As source of livelihood. The economy of millions of people depends on biodiversity as a source of livelihood. Income-generating industries such as agriculture, fisheries, and forestry rely on biodiversity.
There are also livelihood opportunities from ecotourism. Nature is being “sold” to tourists, encouraging an alternative means to travel, learn and appreciate our environment. The involvement of local communities makes them active stakeholders which prompt them to protect biodiversity while benefiting from the income that eco-tourism provides for.
As protection. The ecological goods that biodiversity provides are the clean air we breathe, the potable water we drink, and the lands that we till from which our food comes from. The thick forests protect us from the harmful effects of the sun and from floods.
We have to be grateful to biodiversity for helping us recover from natural phenomena such as the La Niña and El Niño by providing elements required to cope with the changes that these phenomena has brought.
Our present state
Our planet’s natural resources – the plants, animals and other species – are being lost at unprecedented rates due to deforestation, uncontrolled mining, rampant wildlife hunting, endless land conversion, and other destructive human activities.
The number of genetic resources has dropped, and this is blamed to the world’s overall rising temperature. Significant changes in planting season have been noticed. Floods have become worse, claiming many lives, properties, and biodiversity. Our water tributaries are fast drying up, thus greatly reducing our sources of food.
We do not want to reach the state of extinction — the permanent effect of losing biodiversity.
What we can do: An Imperative and Collective Act
It is not yet too late. Let us do our part in working towards the conservation and protection of our biodiversity. Each one of us has an important role to play in saving our biodiversity. In our own little ways, we can reduce the use of non-biodegradable materials in our day-to-day living. We can conserve and use water wisely and sparingly.
Other tips: recycle and segregate our wastes, practice and promote organic farming, use compost as fertilizer and organic substances as pesticides, adopt vermiculture and promote intercropping, and help clean our seas, rivers and waterways.
Let us save and protect biodiversity. By this, we are also saving and protecting mankind. -30-
By Madeleine V. Ricafrente
