Biodiversity refers to biological diversity in its broadest sense: it encompasses the diversity of all habitats (such as coniferous forests, tropical rainforests, wetlands, rivers, etc.), the diversity of species (whether animals, plants, fungi, or single-celled organisms), and genetic diversity.
Life can be found even in the most inhospitable corners of Earth’s eleven major habitats (see box below). After all, life has had billions of years to evolve.
Thanks to specialization, symbiosis, and other evolutionary mechanisms, there are now over 8 million species, of which approximately 1.7 million have been documented and described.
If we delve even deeper into this diversity—into genetic diversity—our imagination is challenged even further.
This concerns the genetic makeup of every single person on this planet. If you simply multiply the human genome—which contains approximately 23,000 genes—by the world’s population, you get a初步 idea of just how vast the Earth’s overall genetic diversity is.
11 Major Habitats of the Earth
– Tropical Rainforests
– Tropical Shrub and Deciduous Forests
– Tropical Savannas
– Deserts
– Pinyon-Juniper Habitats
– Hardwood Forests
– Evergreen Subtropical Deciduous Forests
– Temperate Deciduous Forests
– Temperate Grasslands
– Northern Pine Forests
– Tundra
Why is biodiversity important?
Human civilization depends on biodiversity. Every day, nature provides us with food, energy, and raw materials. Insects pollinate more than 75 percent of the world’s crops (fruit, vegetables, coffee, cocoa…). Healthy ecosystems ensure clean air, pure drinking water, and fertile soil; they provide us with medicinal compounds and help regulate the climate.
But an intact natural environment also has a healing effect on our mental well-being and improves our quality of life. Most of these “free benefits” provided by nature cannot be replaced by human technology.
Protecting biodiversity is therefore vital for the survival of millions of species—and especially for our own. If humanity wants to have a future on this planet with room to act, we need an intact web of life. Because diversity secures our future.
What is the state of biodiversity?
It is part of evolution that new species continually emerge while others go extinct. However, the so-called “extinction rate” is currently many times higher than at any point in human history. Scientists have concluded that we are at the beginning of a mass extinction. It would be the sixth mass extinction in Earth’s history. So far, Earth has experienced five mass extinctions, in which over 75 percent of species went extinct—for example, due to volcanic eruptions or, as in the case of the last mass extinction 66 million years ago, due to a meteorite impact. Humans alone would be responsible for the sixth mass extinction.
The widely acclaimed report by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES 2019) provides insight into the state of biodiversity worldwide. The report reached the grim conclusion that 1 million plant and animal species are threatened with extinction. Many could disappear within the next few decades.
Since 1900, the number of land animals has already declined by one-fifth. Forty percent of amphibian species (frogs, salamanders…), one-third of reef-building corals, and more than one-third of all marine mammals (whales, seals…) are threatened with extinction.
But biodiversity is also under threat in agriculture. Since 2016, 9 percent of traditional livestock breeds have gone extinct, and another 1,000 are at risk. Globally, crop diversity is declining, and many of their wild relatives are not being adequately protected from extinction (IPBES 2019).
That may not sound so bad, since these are breeds and varieties developed by humans. However, systems with low biodiversity are less resilient. Old, hardy breeds and varieties, on the other hand, are often less sensitive to the increasingly frequent climate changes and extreme weather events.
What are the biggest threats to biodiversity?
The report by the World Biodiversity Council cites the following as the main reasons for the threat to biodiversity:
- Changes in land use and marine use
More than a third of the country’s land area and three-quarters of its freshwater resources are used for agriculture. Urban areas have more than doubled since 1992. About 50 percent of all natural ecosystems worldwide have disappeared.
2. Overuse of resources
Every year, 60 billion tons of renewable and non-renewable resources are consumed worldwide. That is nearly twice as much as in 1980.
3. Climate Change
Greenhouse gas emissions have doubled since 1980. Rising temperatures and other negative effects of climate change go hand in hand with species extinction.
4. Pollution
Plastic pollution has increased tenfold since 1980. 300–400 million tons of heavy metals, solvents, toxic sludge, and other industrial waste are discharged into waterways annually. Fertilizers washed into coastal ecosystems have led to 400 “dead zones.” Pesticides, such as neonicotinoids, contribute significantly to species extinction.
5. Invasive species
Invasive species are spreading rapidly and often displacing native species. In countries where the spread of these species has been documented, their populations have increased by 70% since 1970.
Sources
- https://www.ipbes.net/news/Media-Release-Global-Assessment
- https://www.ipbes.net/sites/default/files/downloads/spm_unedited_advance_for_posting_htn.pdf
- https://www.ipbes.net/news/million-threatened-species-thirteen-questions-answers#Q1
- https://www.sueddeutsche.de/wissen/artenvielfalt-die-ernaehrung-der-welt-1.581563
- https://www.globalsafetynet.app/
Good afternoon,
My colleague is writing a term paper on biodiversity and a list of measures that banks should consider.
What specific measures would you like to see implemented by the banking sector?
Best regards,
Michaela Rohschürmann
Dear Michaela Rohschürmann,
Some banks are increasingly focusing on investing in sustainable sectors, lending to sustainable companies, and encouraging their customers to invest sustainably. One example is the true-cost approach: When calculating creditworthiness, the environmental and social costs incurred by a company are taken into account, e.g., through practices that result in biodiversity loss. These costs are currently borne by society or nature, not by those responsible. Banks can also create steering effects here: Companies that operate in a more sustainable and socially responsible manner receive loans. Other companies are encouraged to operate in a more sustainable and socially responsible way. As a result, capital is also “diverted” away from environmentally harmful sectors. For more on this topic, see, for example, the FairFinanceGuide: https://fairfinanceguide.org/ff-international/home/
Best regards,
Johanna Lehner
Editor of the magazine “Sustainability. Rethinking.”
Biodiversity in nature is great, but in a field it’s harmful. Weeds, some of which are toxic themselves, serve as host plants for diseases and pests.
For example, nightshade plants host nematodes that are harmful to potatoes; these nematodes would actually be gone in a weed-free four-year crop rotation without host plants. This means there is no need to apply environmentally harmful chemicals to the soil to combat them.
The same applies to grains, which are essentially a type of grass: during the years of the crop rotation when no grassy crops are grown, weeds transmit all manner of fungal diseases, which in turn must be unnecessarily controlled with heavy chemical use throughout the entire growth phase of the subsequent grain crop.
Biodiversity takes the necessary crop rotation to absurd extremes.
Biodiversity is good, but not on a farm field. Many people are completely unaware of this.