What is Biodiversity?

The definition of Biodiversity (Biological diversity) states that the variability among living organisms from all sources, including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine, and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part. This includes…..

•         diversity of individuals within a species (genetic diversity)

•         diversity of species within an ecosystem or habitat      (species diversity)

•         diversity of ecosystems and habitats (habitat diversity).

In short, biodiversity is variety of all life forms on Earth, from the tiniest bugs living in the soil to the butterflies in your garden, the plants they feed from, and the biggest whales in the sea.

Biodiversity has an Intrinsic Value that is worth protecting regardless of its value to humans. It performs a number of ecological services to humankind that have economic, aesthetic or recreational value.

Both points of view (intrinsic and anthropocentric) need not be contradictory, as they serve the same ultimate purpose. Yet they often are considered incompatible because they stem from two very different philosophies: one which views nature as innately valuable and one that regards it as economically valuable.

Why is it important?

Biodiversity is the Basis of our existence!

While intrinsic arguments for protection of biodiversity are compelling, it is ultimately arguments detailing human benefit that are most appealing: as humans, we are inextricably and wholly dependent on this diversity of living things for survival.

Provision of Natural Resources

Goods can be directly valued and costed - provide something that can be extracted and sold

•         domesticated agricultural crops that form the basis of the world's food supply

•         medicines that protect and cure us

•         textiles – cotton, linnen, hemp

•         Without wood we would have no modern civilization - no Iron age, no industrial revolution

Functions of Biodiversity include:

•         Biodiversity regulates local and global climate

•         Ecosystems filter and purify water

•         Biodiversity breaks down wastes and recycles nutrients

•         Biodiversity provides us with natural resources

•       Ecosystems buffer against flooding

A group of experts who recently attempted to quantify the price of replacing these ecosystem services calculated that they would cost over $3 trillion. That's greater than the entire global GNP! In other words, the world cannot afford to replace these services, therefore we must work to protect our ecosystems.

Biodiversity, Soil, & food

A multiplicity of organisms is required to create soils and maintain fertility through complex cycles and interactions. All these organisms have particular functions and interact with each other and with their physical environment to create the fertile soil that humans depend on for agricultural production.

Plant roots break up rock to create soil particles. Earthworms, mites, insects and millipedes help give soil its texture and fertility and are crucial to its aeration.

Even tinier soil microorganisms and fungi are responsible for cycling essential nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus and sulfur and making them available to higher plants.

Do you know? That a gram of fertile agricultural soil may contain 2.5 billion bacteria, 400,000 fungi, 50,000 algae and 30,000 protozoa.

Watershed services

Trees and their roots maximize infiltration of water in to the ground. Upland peat bogs act like sponges, thus regulating water flows by increasing the amount of time it takes rainfall to progress through the catchment to enter waterways – preventing flooding

Biodiversity & Health

Clean air and water is essential to human health.

Plant extracts and derivatives form the basis of most traditional and many modern medicines.

Diversity of life forms is nature’s way of keeping important checks and balances in place, keeping populations of disease-causing pests and viruses in check.

Species and natural systems are now faced with the need to adapt to new regimes of temperature, precipitation and other climatic extremes. April was the driest on record with gorse fires reported in across Ireland. 

Will CLimate Change cause more Biodiversity Loss?

• Birds face starvation when they arrive too early or too late to find their normal diet of insects, plankton or fish.
• Wetlands flooded = habitat loss                                                 

• Wetlands drying up = habitat loss

This picture is of Gorse fires in Irish Uplands in April 2007.  Such fires were evident all over Ireland, a highly unusual occurence in April.  With April having been the driest on record, it is no wonder fire was quick to spread.  The impact this has had on nesting birds is likely to be enormous. 

Global Pressures on Biodiversity

Existing pressures on biodiversity from human activities is greater than ever before, with unprecedentedrates of Biodiversity loss.  Add rising temperatures, earlier springs, changing rainfall patterns, and changing water levels to this coktail, and the consequenses are dire.

A Recent report by a panel of scientific experts concluded that 40 percent of rivers in Oregon and Idaho will be too warm for salmon by the year 2090.

On top of bleaching of coral reefs, in Japan the state is financing the removal of coral eating starfish, which have proliferated with the rise in sea temperatures.

Ireland is responsible for the import of tens of thousands of meters squared of illegally felled tropical timber each year garden furniture, decking, flooring, soy feed for cattle.

Ireland has committed to the Convention on Biological Diversity’s target of ‘Halting the loss of biodiversity by 2010’.

To achieve this we need to realise our commitments: The Habitats Directive, The Birds Directive, EC Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Regulations & Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), Water Framework Directive (WFD) with full and timely implementation.

The Stern Review forecasts:

•         1 °C warming – at least 10% of land species could face extinction

•         2 °C warming – at least 15-40% of land species could face extinction

•         3 °C warming – at least 20-50% of land species could face extinction

IPCC have warned of 3.6 °C rise in temperatures

What can we do about this?

•   Cut our personal and national emissions of greenhouse gasses drastically over the next 5- 10 years to stop climate chaos    

• Identify and prevent potential damage to biodiversity from likely major land use changes (e.g. conversion from tillage to biomass production) and new energy technologies (such as wind farms)

•         Ensure that protected areas, including Natura 2000, are interconnected through ‘green corridors’  to accommodate species migrations and aid 'adaptation' to climate change

•         Integrate Biodiversity considerations in to Regional Policy & Spatial Planning

"Within every crisis is an opportunity for a major shift in approach"

Will humankind once again come to realize our dependence on Biodiversity? Adapt our destructive behavior accordingly? We, as a society, need to re- integrate our development in less damaging ways to the environment.  This can be achieved through plans, policies, and individual action