Did you know that if bees become extinct, Life on Earth could virtually end within a matter of months if not weeks? We would not normally associate the humble bee with an Extinction Level Event (ELE), but this shows that every living being on Earth, however small or insignificant it may seem to be, has a role to play in the greater scheme of things. Every animal and every plant that is lost could hasten our own extinction. This is the most compelling reason for protecting Nature and Biodiversity.
While there is a growing recognition that biological diversity is a global asset of tremendous value to future generations, the number of species is being significantly reduced by certain human activities from deforestation to seabed mining. In other words, thousands of species of flora and fauna could be extinct by the turn of this century. Last year, 21 major animal species went extinct in the US alone. Some marine animals may be lost even before we identify them properly. Overall, more than one million animal and plant species are now threatened with extinction.
Given the importance of public education and awareness about this issue, the United Nations (UN) decided to celebrate the International Day for Biological Diversity (IDBD) annually on May 22. It was also fitting that this year, it fell just before Vesak, which celebrates the Birth, Enlightenment and the Passing Away of the Buddha, who advocated compassion for all living beings, big or small.
Rekindling bonds
According to the UN, as the global community is called to re-examine our relationship to the natural world, one thing is certain: despite all our technological advances we are completely dependent on healthy and vibrant ecosystems for our water, food, medicines, clothes, fuel, shelter and energy, just to name a few. This involves respecting, protecting, and repairing our biological wealth.
Conserving and restoring natural spaces, and the biodiversity they contain, is essential for limiting emissions and adapting to climate impacts. Climate Change, biodiversity loss and air pollution are part of an interlinked triple planetary crisis the world is facing today. As per the UN, they need to be tackled together if we are to advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and secure a viable future on this planet, the only home we have, at least until we can explore other worlds in this galaxy and beyond. But that is unlikely to happen at least for another 1,000 years. So it is essential to keep the Earth habitable for the time being.
In December 2022, the world came together and agreed on a global plan to transform humankind’s relationship with Nature. The adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, also known as The Biodiversity Plan, sets goals and concrete measures to stop and reverse the loss of nature by 2050, just 25 years away.
This year, the theme of the International Day for Biological Diversity was “Be part of the Plan”. This is a call to action to encourage Governments, indigenous peoples and local communities, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), lawmakers, businesses, and individuals to highlight the ways in which they are supporting the implementation of the Biodiversity Plan. Everyone has a role to play and therefore can be a “”Part of the Plan”.
That is the main message from the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the key international instrument for sustainable development.
This year’s celebration is expected to increase the visibility momentum in the lead-up to the sixteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 16), to be held in Colombia from October 21 to November 1 2024.
Biological diversity is often understood in terms of the wide variety of plants, animals and microorganisms, but it also includes genetic differences within each species — for example, between varieties of crops and breeds of livestock — and the variety of ecosystems (lakes, forest, deserts, agricultural landscapes) that host multiple kind of interactions among the various species (humans, plants, animals).
Significance
Biological diversity resources are the pillars upon which we have built our civilisation. Fish provide 20 percent of animal protein to about three billion people. Over 80 percent of the human diet is provided by edible plants and/or their parts such as fruit. As many as 80 percent of people living in rural areas in developing countries rely on traditional plant based medicines for basic healthcare.
This last point is especially important, as some species in forest environments such as Sinharaja which may have medicinal properties could become extinct even without the knowledge of botanists and scientists. There have been attempts to smuggle such animals and plants in defiance of international pacts. Recently, an Italian father and son duo were arrested in Sri Lanka for attempting to smuggle out specimens of several protected insect species.
Hunger hotspots
The loss of biodiversity in whatever manner threatens all of humanity, including our health. It has been proven that biodiversity loss could expand zoonoses – diseases transmitted from animals to humans- while, on the other hand, if we keep biodiversity intact, it offers excellent tools to fight against pandemics like those caused by Corona viruses. Covid-19 was a good example of a Zoonotic disease, believed to have been transmitted via wild bats in Wuhan, China. Incidentally, UN Member Countries will be working on a treaty to face future pandemics, from May 27.
In recent months, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and others have pointed to an increase in food insecurity and “hunger hotspots” in various parts of Asia and the Pacific. While conflicts and climate crises can be blamed for this, the slow but steady erosion of the region’s biodiversity is an equal or even greater threat to future food security. The FAO’s most recent outlook report on Asia-Pacific’s forest sector found that biodiversity and ecosystem resilience in natural forests are declining along with the capacity of these forests to deliver water and soil protection, climate regulation, amenity and cultural values, and wood, foods, and medicines.
Reversing this trend must be a priority for all countries in the Asian region in the next decade to ensure survival, especially in the face of Climate Change. Halting deforestation and forest degradation, while enabling forest and landscape restoration, are also vital components of addressing the challenge of biodiversity loss and Climate Change.
Indeed, the mitigation of Climate Change is one of the several benefits we derive from ensuring that biodiversity suffers no losses. After all, it fulfills our basic needs for food, shelter, medicines, mental health, recreation, and spiritual enrichment. To face the continuing decline in the quality of our environment, we will need to rely more on solutions that draw upon Biodiversity or Nature, also called nature-based solutions.
But recent trends are alarming: Current negative trends in biodiversity and ecosystems will undermine progress towards 80 percent of the assessed targets of eight of the 17 SDGs; Three-quarters of the land-based environment and about 66 percent of the marine environment have been significantly altered by human actions.
Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing can be blamed partly for this. While scientists fear ELEs, there is another school of thought on this issue. We have all heard the phrase “extinction is forever” but is it really so? Some scientists think that animal extinction can be reversed – to the point where completely “dead” species can be revived. If you have heard the expression “as dead as a dodo”, based on the extinct bird, it means that someone or something cannot ever be brought back to life.
But this is precisely what these scientists want to achieve – if you have watched the Jurassic Park movies (and who hasn’t?), Richard Attenborough’s character recreates living, breathing dinosaurs by extracting dino-DNA from a fossilised mosquito that had bitten a dinosaur more than 65 million years ago. This is indeed theoretically possible. Right now, scientists are working on literally reviving the mammoth (unlike in the case of dinosaurs, completely intact and well preserved bodies of mammoths are available) and several other species, including possibly the aforementioned Dodo.
A matter of concern
This, of course, raises many ethical and moral questions and even some intriguing possibilities. Can we indeed recreate dinosaurs or even the Neanderthals? But can and will they survive in this much-changed world? It is actually better to concentrate on saving the species that are facing extinction rather than bring back extinct species. The latter is a very risky idea and venture as things stand, even though it is technically possible with current technology. Such resources should be diverted to conservation programs in zoos and elsewhere that seek to protect critically endangered animal and plant species around the world. They deserve a second chance at life, which is Nature’s biggest gift.
