Biodiversity
‘Human activities have taken the planet to the edge of a massive wave of species extinctions, further threatening our own well-being’. That was the verdict of the Millennium Assessment published by the United Nations in 2003 to parallel the work of the IPCC on climate change. Despite the fact that the scientists responsible for the Assessment believe that the loss of biodiversity is as big a long-term risk to human welfare as is climate change, politicians have generally given the issue little priority.
This is nothing new. In 1993, the Convention on Biological Diversity agreed at the Rio Earth Summit came into force: its key target was ‘to achieve by 2010 a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss at the global, regional and national level’. Yet the latest Red List of endangered species published by the World Conservation Union in 2007 listed some 16,000 species as vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered. The EU and UK continue to be a market for wildlife products from third countries.
The UK has lost more than 100 species in the last century and the rate of loss is increasing. Of particular concern is the marine environment: WWF’s Marine Health Check in 2005 reported that, of 16 key marine species and habitats, all but two were in decline in UK waters. Globally, large-scale disruptive fishing methods that pay no regard to conservation threaten the future of fish stocks and endanger the whole ecology of the marine environment, an environment rich in biodiversity which plays a key role in maintaining the ecological balance of the planet.
Biodiversity is what makes the Earth what it is. The loss of biodiversity endangers our future in many ways, including:
- It directly affects our food supplies through, for example, the loss of fisheries, and reduces the genetic pool available for new pest, disease and drought resistant crops
- It removes potentially valuable species that may be used to develop drugs, materials and other resources
- It weakens the natural systems on which we rely to clean our air and water and keep our soils fertile
Issues to consider:
- How can individuals, communities and businesses be encouraged to value and enhance habitats and biodiversity?
- Globally, how can local communities be rewarded for managing their biodiversity resources sustainably?
- What further protection is needed for species and habitats in the UK?
- What policies are needed to ensure a national ‘green grid’ of effective wildlife corridors?
- Should the UK and EU insist on proof that imported goods come only from sources that do not damage biodiversity?
- Is there a role for GM technologies, if properly regulated, in providing the food and other resources required by the rapidly growing world population?
- What national and international measures are needed to protect the marine environment?
