May 22, The International Day for Biological Diversity
May 22 has been proclaimed by the United
Nations as The International Day for Biological Diversity (IDB) to increase
understanding and awareness of biodiversity issues. Earlier, it was first created
by the Second Committee of the UN General Assembly in late 1993, 29 December,
was designated as the International Day for Biological Diversity.29th
December was the date on which the Convention on Biological Diversity was put
into force. Later, to commemorate the adoption of the text of the convention 22nd
May 1992 was adopted as International Day for Biological Diversity by the
Nairobi Final Act of the Conference for the Adoption of the Agreed Text of the
Convention. “This was partly done because it was difficult for many countries
to plan and carry out suitable celebrations for the date of 29 December, given
the number of holidays that coincide around that time of year”. The theme of
this year’s International Day for Biological Diversity (IDB is Marine
Biodiversity.
The Concept of
Biodiversity
We
have immense range of forests, wetlands,
grasslands, deserts, fresh water bodies, marine areas, coral reefs, hills and
mountains in our world. All these areas are inhabited by vast varieties of
organisms like plants, animals and microorganisms. An association of all the
plants at a particular place is called as Plant Community and the association
of all the animals at the same place is called as Animal Community. Both the
plant and animal communities inhabit a particular place living completely
merged and interacting among them. Members of a community not only interact with
the members of other communities, they interact with the members of their own
community and with the physical environment around them, as well. The physical
environment surrounding a community is called as its habitat. Thus, a habitat is the place or area where
communities live.
The association of all the communities of
plants, animals and microorganisms at a particular place is called as biota or
the Biotic Community. In a biotic community we may observe some species of
plants and animals or microorganisms in abundance or in scarcity. Vast
variability exists in the distribution or occurrence of different life forms in
different habitats. The variability of life forms in a particular habitat is
considered as the biodiversity of that habitat.
The
variability of life forms: number of species of organisms on the global level
Source: UNEP-WCMC 2000
The
biodiversity of an area is important for running the processes of nature in
that area. If biodiversity of an area is depleted or disturbed due to some or
the other reason, the processes of nature may not run properly in that area. It
will lead to a condition which is called as Natural Imbalance. This natural
imbalance causes further damages to nature and its biodiversity. So the balance
of nature must be maintained at all costs. Since humans and also all the other
organisms of the natural environment derive their livelihood and all the other
things from the nature, it may be a suicidal tendency if someone disturbs this
balance and causes any damage to the biodiversity. In the present chapter we
are going to study about the real concept of biodiversity, its benefits and
values, and its various types demarcated by ecologists.
What is
Biodiversity?
Biodiversity is a composite word made from two
words- Biological and Diversity. This word was used for the first time by the
Science of Conservation in the year 1975 as Natural Diversity. The word
biodiversity is supposed to have been coined by W. G. Rosen in 1985 while he
was planning for the National Forum on Biological Diversity held in 1986.The
word biodiversity appeared first in a publication in 1988 when entomologist C.
O. Wilson used it as a title of the proceedings of that forum.
According to a report of the United Nations Environmental
Programme -2002(UNEP-200), biodiversity
refers to the variability among living organisms from all sources including
terrestrial, marine and other ecosystems, and the ecological complexes of which
they are parts. This includes diversity within species, between species
and, within and between ecosystems. The same opinions regarding biodiversity
were also expressed in the United Nations Earth Summit in 1992 which was
organized in Rio de Janeiro. The Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government
of India reported in 1998 that biodiversity
is the species richness of plants, animals and microorganisms, including their
genetic make up and the communities they form.
According to
another opinion, -the varieties of life
forms, their variations and abundance alonwith the variation of the components
of their habitat is called as biodiversity or the biological diversity.
Further, some ecologists say that Biodiversity is the sum of all the different species of plants, animals, fungi and
microorganisms living in the environment and the variety of habitats where they
live. In a nut shell, the range of
organisms, present in a given ecological community or system is called as
biodiversity.
The
ecologists of the world also accept another definition of biodiversity according
to which-“The totality of genes, species, and ecosystems of a region is called
as biodiversity.” This definition presents a unified view of the traditionally
accepted three levels of the identification of biodiversity, - the genetic diversity,
the species diversity, and the ecosystem diversity.
The
Intrinsic Values of Biodiversity relate to the fact that humans too are parts
of Nature. The concept of intrinsic value of biodiversity accepts that
biodiversity is the foundation of civilization. The author of the Silent
Spring- Rachel Carson asks - “Can any civilization wage relentless war on
life without destroying itself and without loosing the right to be called
civilized?” The integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community are
values that can be saved and protected as it is evident from following lines-
“A thing is right when it tends to preserve
the integrity, stability and the beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong
when it tends otherwise.”- Aldo Leopold; sand Country Almanac.
The
evolutionary values and the Noah’s
principle accept that- since humans are and were parts of nature, they
benefited from the evolutionary processes. This thought can raise a question,
whether humans should endanger their own milieu and the process from which they
stem. The Noah’s principle is named from the biblical Noah and the principle
argues that the usefulness of a species is not considered when discussing its
conservation, but rather its very presence in the long history of evolution is
sufficient to warrant its preservation. Since most of the loss of biodiversity has
been caused by human beings through the loss of habitat, overexploitation and
other activities, the Environmental ethics says that- humans must have to
protect the biodiversity of nature.
The
Environmental Ethics demands extension of rights to species and landforms.
According to the ethical point of view, the biodiversity and land forms have
their rights to exist with us because of the simple reason that its long
standing existence in Nature is deemed to carry with it the ‘ unimpeachable
right’ to continued existence.
The
Harward Biologist E. O. Wilson is of
the opinion that love of nature has been deep rooted into us by the process of
Natural Selection. The religious feelings about biodiversity can be seen as a
natural extension of a tendency to focus on life and life like processes.
Wilson coined the word “Biophilia”
for this tendency. This tendency is seen in the form of human desire to remain
surrounded by biodiversity and to manage natural things and also the artificial
Greenland.
The
Anthropocentric values centre around economic benefits, services of ecosystems;
regulations of climate by biodiversity, generation of moisture and oxygen by
plants and animals; formation of soil and improvement of fertility;
de-toxification of wastes by organisms; and Aesthetic and recreational
benefits.
Biodiversity, if it is healthy, it
provides a number of natural services to us. According to the Global Issues,
these services can be summed up as below -
·
Ecosystem
services, such as
·
Protection
of water resources
·
Soils
formation and protection
·
Nutrient
storage and recycling
·
Pollution
breakdown and absorption
·
Contribution
to climate stability
·
Maintenance
of ecosystems
·
Recovery
from unpredictable events
·
Biological
resources, such as
·
Food
·
Medicinal
resources and pharmaceutical drugs
·
Wood
products
·
Ornamental
plants
·
Breeding
stocks, population reservoirs
·
Future
resources
·
Diversity
in genes, species and ecosystems
·
Social
benefits, such as
·
Research,
education and monitoring
·
Recreation
and tourism
·
Cultural
values
Key Words:
IDB, United Nations, Aldo Leopold, E. O. Wilson
