Biodiversity Loss
A loss In biodiversity on earth could be as consequential to human life as global warming. As our natural environment changes so does the food chain, with far-reaching effects from top to bottom.
According to AI Overview, biodiversity loss “is the decline or disappearance of the variety of life on earth, including the number of species, their genetic variation, and the interactions between them. It can occur at the population or global level, and the decrease can be temporary or permanent.”
The main cause of biodiversity loss is the use of land by people. According to the United Nations (UN), human behavior has already altered over 70% of all ice-free land on earth. Changes in land use include farming, deforestation, urbanization, mineralization, and grazing.
Hunting and fishing to extinction is another factor that contributes to biodiversity loss, as well as invasive species, climate change, and pollution. According to the European Union (EU) Science Hub, local ecosystems could lose “between 6% and 10.8% of their vertebrate species” by 2050, increasing to an average diversity loss of 13% to 20% by the year 2100.
The UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was established to address the problem of biodiversity loss. The CBD has been ratified by 196 nations, serving as the international legal instrument to protect and conserve biological diversity, and to promote the sustainable use of natural resources, including land, the sea, fresh water, and all the plants and animals that depend upon the preservation of a functionally healthy environment.
Establishing national monuments and protected areas is the best way to support biodiversity. The United States has 134 national monuments that limit the exploitation of natural resources on land, and 17 marine sanctuaries that protect important aquatic ecosystems for endangered whales, fish species, coral reefs and kelp forests. Governments need to continue to legally conserve land and marine ecosystems to protect against the potentially dire consequences of a breakdown in the earth’s natural biodiversity.
Keeping track of endangered species is another way to ensure a healthy biodiversity. The Endangered Species Act (ESA) signed into law here in the United States in 1973 is an effort to identify and protect endangered species and the environments where they live. The ESA has prevented the extinction of 99% of the species it protects.
Conserving forests and managing them wisely is a great way to not only protect the plants and animals living in them, but also to guarantee they’ll be able to continue to capture carbon from the environment, a wise approach to limiting global warming. Protecting fresh water is essential to the life that depends on it, including ours, and the bees as they pollinate new life from flower to food source.
Being courteous and not over consumptive is the first, most important thing we can do as individuals and as a society to protect the world we live in. Recognizing that our wellbeing is dependent upon nature and a healthy biodiversity will enable us to live respectfully and responsibly in a world we depend on for our own perpetuity.
Brett Bridgman
Doo Dah Apparel LLC
