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BIODIVERSITY: MAN IS ONE AMONG 15 MILLION SPECIES

BY JEFFREY A. MCNEELY
IUCN'S CHIEF SCIENTIST

People share our planet with at least 15 million other species, all of which interact in various ways with the environment to provide the living systems upon which we all depend. Conservation has traditionally focused on endangered species and protected areas, which remain a high priority. But it has also become clear in recent years that the entire fabric of life needs to be conserved. A new word -- "biodiversity" -- has been coined to represent the variety of all living things on Earth, including species, the genes that contribute to their variability, and the ecosystems in which they interact.

Biodiversity is valuable because we cannot know what will be an asset in the future, because variety is inherently interesting and more attractive, and because our understanding of ecosystems is insufficient to allow us to be certain of the role and the impact of removing any component. Conservationists argue that it is very short-sighted to sacrifice any of this variability in order to achieve short-term financial and economic objectives, especially because less biodiversity may have profound implications for humanity.

Biodiversity has led to greater appreciation of the services provided by nature, including everything from watershed protection to pollination to the flow of nutrients. Together, these ecological services contribute significant economic benefits to human welfare. One authoritative study estimated these benefits at over US$30 trillion per year, far more than the annual GNP of our planet.

Biodiversity has also offered us important new opportunities to form partnerships between conservation and other sectors of society, including agriculture, forestry, fisheries, tourism, education, and human health. For example, nearly 30% of all pharmaceuticals in today's drug stores have been developed from wild plants and animals.

Recognizing the value of biodiversity, the governments of the world, supported by scientists from all corners of the Earth, have developed a Convention on Biological Diversity, which has now been ratified by some 180 governments. The CBD calls for international cooperation in conserving biological diversity, using biological resources in a sustainable manner, and ensuring that the benefits arising from such use are equitably distributed. This combination of biological, social, and economic objectives has made the CBD a powerful instrument for human welfare.

Under the CBD, hundreds of new investments have been made in biodiversity, covering everything from research to local enterprise development to improved management of protected areas. New and additional funding amounting to several hundred million dollars per year has been generated as a result.

Finally, biodiversity is relevant at many levels. While the issue is very much a global one, it has very real local applications. The world's areas with the richest biodiversity are often occupied by the poorest people, implying a strong linkage with poverty alleviation. Helping the rural poor to manage their resources more effectively will also help to ensure biodiversity. And while global economic forces may be driving the loss of biodiversity, the impacts of this loss are felt at the local level. The local knowledge that people have about their resources and how these resources should be managed provides a critical resource for all of humanity. Indigenous peoples who live in intimate contact with biodiversity could provide much of the intellectual raw material for a shift to sustainable societies, provided they are empowered to act in their own self-interest. Thus biodiversity and cultural diversity can be conserved together, enabling both to prosper. This is why biodiversity has become such a dominant theme in the global conservation movement.

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