Hemchandra Saikia
(saikia.hemchandra@rediffmail.com)
Biodiversity is one of the most important and vital components of the environment in which all living beings live. Biodiversity is the diversity of living beings, which may be either in the form of genetic diversity, species diversity, or ecosystem diversity. It also includes diversity within the genus, species, or ecosystem. These inter or intra component variation of biodiversity is the very essential characteristic of our environment or ecosystem which is having great potential to determine the extent and quality of food, shelter, cloth, nutrition and health of human being, soil fertility, soil environment, socio-economic environment, growth and development of industries (including pharmaceuticals, etc.) and economy, aesthetic and recreational value of environment and so on, which ultimately determine the very nature of sustainable growth and development of socio-economic parameters capable of yielding very sustainable peace, progress and happiness in our human life. Thus, biodiversity has been playing a great role in our human civilization from time immemorial by providing not only the most essential basic needs of life but also provides us suitable sustainable environment for peaceful and growth oriented life besides facilitating desired production of economic goods including crop production, industries and other economic activities. Because biodiversity provides us with food, water, and resources as well as services such as climate control, pollination, flood mitigation, and cycling of nutrients.
The Convention on Biological Diversity defines biodiversity in its article 2, “Biological diversity means the variability among living organisms from all sources, including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine, and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species, and of ecosystems.” Anyway, whatever may be the definition of biodiversity, there is no doubt that biodiversity means genetic diversity, species diversity, and ecosystem diversity, which includes both inter- and intra-level variation of these components of biodiversity. All these three levels of biodiversity have ever-present utility, urgency, necessity, and usefulness in every aspect of the socio-economic arena of our human civilization through its multiplier effect of positivity. Thus, biodiversity helps or facilitates mankind to get the due quantity and quality of food, fibre, timber, clean water, air, and other flora and fauna. It also helps in the regulation of climate, floods, water quality, pollination, maintenance of soil fertility, soil environment, and its efficiency and acts as an effective insurance policy against disaster or risk and uncertainty of the biological world due to various calamities. Biodiversity can be used for future breeding programmes or hybridization programmes for the development of suitable varieties of flora and fauna to fulfil the changing needs of mankind for successfully carrying out our agricultural and allied activities. Thus, we can get our desired suitable crops or breeds of livestock or fish that are tolerant or resistant against pests, diseases, climate change, drought, floods, etc., besides having high yields and other desirable qualities to satisfy our consumer needs well. That is why human beings should conserve the biodiversity of flora and fauna through a very collective and effective continuous effort.
The future of our food security, which is confronted with some great challenges of modern times, is also under the vital influence of biodiversity due to a host of manmade injudicious activities such as pollution, deforestation, industrialisation, population explosion, urbanisation, shifting cultivation, modernisation of agriculture and allied activities, climate change, etc. Thus, the very intake, or right existence, of biodiversity is experiencing an alarming threat to fulfil the greed of mankind in the name of economic development, industrial development, or better standard of living, that too with little limitation. The fact of the stable existence of biodiversity on our planet was rightly realised by our great scientists, environmentalists, or conscious citizens across various parts of the world several decades ago, and now too, it is going to be a continuous process resulting in a huge loss of valuable biodiversity year after year, which is an irreparable or irreversible or irrecoverable loss to our earth and its human civilization besides converting a countable number of many species into a very endangered state. And this is a great challenge or threat to the stable existence of biodiversity, and hence the very plight of the modern-day state of biodiversity has been established as a very hot topic or burning topic of discussion among the entire world community, concerns since several decades.
The various authentic local, national, or international reports of institutions and organisations also revealed that the world is experiencing a huge loss of biodiversity year after year on a continuous basis due to various manmade injudicious or modern-day activities. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF), in its Living Planet Report 2014, revealed in their study that between 1970 and 2010, the world lost 52 percent of its biodiversity, and climate change resulted in a loss of 7.1 percent of animal populations. The IPBES Global Assessment Report 2019 on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services also revealed that around 1 million animal and plant species are now threatened with extinction, many within decades, more than ever before in human history. The average abundance of native species in most major land-based habitats has fallen by at least 20%, mostly since 1900. More than 40% of amphibian species, almost 33% of reef-forming corals, and more than a third of all marine mammals are threatened. At least 680 vertebrate species had been driven to extinction since the 16th century, and more than 9% of all domesticated breeds of mammals used for food and agriculture had become extinct by 2016, with at least 1,000 more breeds still threatened. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), by 2009, at least 803 species had become extinct since the year 1500. In 2000, the Global Biodiversity Outlook, published by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, reported that 11,046 species are threatened with extinction. The Living Planet Report 2008, published by the WWF, reported that between 1970 and 2005, populations of terrestrial species dropped by 33 percent, marine species by 14 percent, and freshwater species by 35 percent. An estimated 58 percent of the world’s coral reefs, some of which rival tropical rainforests for biodiversity, are at risk from human activities. Another report of the UN FAO (2004) reported that in the last 100 years, about 75% of the genetic diversity of agricultural crops was lost.
This sort of fact-finding report justifies that there is an increasing need for a very effective, quick, but sustainable conservation of biodiversity across every nook and corner of this world for the greater interest of mankind and its sustainable environment. Of course, the very process of conservation of biodiversity is taking place in the form of ex-situ conservation (such as conserving biodiversity outside the areas where they naturally occur, e.g., seed banks, botanical, horticultural, and recreational gardens) and in-situ conservation (such as national parks and sanctuaries, biosphere reserves, nature reserves, reserved and protected forests, and preservation plots). But this process of conservation of biodiversity demands quicker and very effective policy execution in due space and time in a very adequate sustainable manner to attain and maintain future food and nutrition security accompanied by sustainable socio-economic growth and development, which will ever make possible living of mankind a better sustainable one for all the people across the world. For this, besides effectively implementing all the biodiversity conservation measures with the very active and collective participation of all the sections of people in association with our government departments, officials, expert groups, institutions, or organisations, all the factors responsible for creating a threat to the stability or existence of biodiversity must be controlled to the extent possible. Hence, pollution, climate change, deforestation, diseases, overexploitation of biodiversity for industrialisation and economic development, habitat destruction, habitat fragmentation, jhum cultivation, injudicious use of chemicals, fertilisers, irrigation, and so on should be managed and controlled sustainably in due space and time. Otherwise, all the efforts, schemes, policies, and programmes for the conservation of biodiversity will go in vain, and if this process continues for a longer period of time, then it will affect our food security and nutrition very badly. Therefore, the existing and ongoing danger to the very stability of biodiversity is now a very sensitive and complex issue with a great amount of challenge. Hence, various responsible world bodies, including the UN, FAO, WWF, etc., accept this burning issue of the modern-day state of biodiversity very seriously and are trying to solve this issue sustainably on a continuous basis.
It is worthwhile and praiseworthy to mention here that as an essential part of the conservation of biodiversity, the United Nations designated 2011–2020 as the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity and 2021–2030 as the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. This may be due to the very importance of biodiversity with the due realisation of the threat to biodiversity for the future sustainable environment of our earth planet.
So let’s celebrate our earth’s biodiversity with the very effective policy execution for its sustainable conservation with very effective community participation, expert groups, institutions, organizations, NGOs, and also individual-level participation of our farming community, including tribal communities, etc. For this, effective and regular mobilisation and sensitisation of masses by our expert groups, institutions, organisations, government machineries, and print and electronic media can bring about a much-desired change in achieving our targeted goal of biodiversity conservation. So let’s hope for the best and work for the best because where there is will, there is a way.