The Decline of Biodiversity

Entry #12

7/12/2011



Many are not familiar with biodiversity even though it has the potential to solve or at the very least improve many of the world’s modern problems.  Biodiversity is actually the variety of various forms of life from their particular genes to their broader respective ecosystems.  Variety doesn’t hinder growth because it actually provides less vulnerability to both natural and manmade predicaments.  Predicaments such as the overfishing that is devastating millions of non-commercial fisherman, the extinction of various species of food, the growing market prices of common foods, etc.  Biodiversity not only liberates our food security from the risks of genetic uniformity, but it also protects the market prices of food from instability and the livelihood of so many that depend on certain resources.  Unfortunately, there has been a decline of biodiversity throughout the twentieth century as a result of relying too much on fossil fuels, fertilizer products developed in factories, and medicines made from synthetic molecules.  All these resources have either replaced others, polluted the environment indirectly, or have done a combination of both.  Furthermore, Third World people are actually rich and First World people are poor in terms of biodiversity.  However, the wealth of Third World nations is being affected by this decline.  Africa in particular is being affected agriculturally, economically, culturally, etc. by this lack of biodiversity.  I can’t stress how vital biodiversity is and how I consider biodiversity to be essentially a type of “immune system” that compensates for the exacerbations of various resources; moreover, an “immune system” that regulates our resources to keep our world healthy and abundant in various resources.

            Personally, I consider biodiversity a metric to measure the health of any ecosystem; as a result, of the literature I’ve been reading over the past couple of weeks.  It is the rich diversity of life that forms on our beautiful planet and sustains it.  It also shapes the cultural diversity; therefore the erosion of biodiversity and the erosion of cultural diversity are intertwined.  The globalization of the industrial culture coupled with the ignorance of environmental consequences that came with it has seriously threatened biodiversity.  These consequences have ranged from environmental pollution to the extinction of various organisms.  Yes, we have made large technological strides but at what price?  Fossil fuels have given us climate change, agrichemicals have both threatened species and undermined soil fertility and human health; and synthetic drugs have had fatal side-effects.   Moreover, the cultural diversity and livelihood of many Third World people has suffered as well.  People that make their living as farmers, fishermen, craftspeople, healers, etc. are the ones being most affected financially by this decline of diversity.  For example, the world’s main fishing grounds are being depleted by commercial fishing.  Furthermore, this carelessness for wildlife brings me to my next point.  For animals, habitat loss resulting from industrial plantations, highways, and the expansion of human settlements have become major threats to species survival.  Several species are either extinct, endangered, or on the path to all of the above (Florida Gulf Coast University pp. 38-57).  Obviously, we need to transition into a more biodiversity friendly way of doing things, but how can we repair such damage done already?

Preventing the loss of biodiversity is a challenge in itself, but I feel recovering as much of it as possible is just as important.  We have a lot to learn from past mistakes, but also from Third World people because they’re pioneering various techniques that can potentially resolve many of these issues.  Regardless of the exploitation of resources in Africa, they are developing environmentally friendly farming and fishing methods that are practical in various ways.  African supermarkets typically contain very few products that have been domestically produced.  However, the Dogon, an African people living on Mali’s Bandiagara Escarpment between Mopti and Timbuktu, are on the verge of introducing their own indigenous seasoning products into mainstream markets.  These local seasonings are both less expansive and healthier; yet, the flavors of the seasonings are unique and spreading beyond the Dogon community.  “Mamadou Guindo, a Dogon community leader, is working to bring together producers to package and sell the seasonings at major food fairs in Europe, attracting the attention of renowned chefs, including Galdino Zara from the Veneto region of Italy and Matthieu Toucas from France” (Worldwatch pp. 71-80).  This example of biodiversity only scratches the surface of the innovation Africa is at the forefront of.  Furthermore, there are plans being developed to conserve the freshwater ecosystems of KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa), using generic conservation planning software ("Scale-based freshwater conservation planning: towards protecting freshwater biodiversity in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa").  I think this is an important step in the right direction and will influence others into taking the conservation of biodiversity more seriously.  Hopefully, if these plans prove themselves to seem successful then they will come into fruition.  There are countless efforts being made in Africa and in other places as well, but I feel Africa is going to be the one country that will provide game changing techniques in terms of biodiversity.

I’ve developed my own plausible solutions to reducing the rapid decline of biodiversity globally.  I think it’s important to establish key metrics that tell us how many resources we have at our disposal, the specific amount of each individual resource, possible substitutes, and consequences from using a particular resource, etc. in a particular environment.  Then, we put this data to use in regards to using the best resources available that won’t have adverse impacts on the populace, wildlife, environment, economy, and other resources at hand.  This is just a general idea that I came up with that can be put to use in any situation because it’s simple enough, organized, and gives anyone somewhere to start.  In addition, the transitioning of fishing and farming methods into more biodiversity oriented ones is also quite crucial.  Commercial fishing needs to be more regulated in order to protect not only from overfishing, but to also protect the livelihood of the Third World people that rely on fishing as a source of income and food to feed their families.  Also, fish farming provides a great alternative to commercial fishing because it offers fish marketers another source.  Furthermore, agricultural farming is doing more harm than good with its manmade pesticides and the over production of certain crops.  These manmade pesticides have adverse side effects on humans, animals, the soil, etc.  The growth of the same variety of crops exhausts the soil, makes them more vulnerable to various factors, and creates markets that depend on them entirely too much.  There is even more that can and should be done to preserve biodiversity but there needs to be a global enlightening on the matter in order for it to be taken seriously.

Work Cited

Florida Gulf Coast University. University Colloquium: A Sustainable Future. United States of America: Copley Custom Textbooks, 2011. pp. 38-57. Print

Rivers-Moore, N. A., P. S. Goodman, and J. L. Nel. "Scale-based freshwater conservation planning: towards protecting freshwater biodiversity in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa." Freshwater Biology 56.1 (2011): 125-41. Biological & Agr Index Plus. Web. 10 June 2011.

Worldwatch, The. State of the World 2011: Nourishing the Planet. Washington, DC: W. W. Norton & Company, 2011. pp. 71-80. Print.