Biodiversity: Going, going, gone?

By Henrylito D. Tacio

“We know that the drivers behind species loss are mostly increasing – land conversion and degradation, pollution, climate change. And of course the human population is still growing and consumption is growing – and most of that consumption is not sustainable.” — Braulio Dias, executive secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity
***
Some 10,000 years ago, humanity started a great experiment that changed the world. Using biological diversity (biodiversity) around them, they began harvesting wild seeds and plants and domesticating them, choosing those varieties that yielded the most food, or the best rope, or which did well even in drought years. 
Around the same time, they commenced domesticating animals as well, harnessing their power, eating their meat and drinking their milk. 
The diversity of the plants and animals the first farmers had to work with allowed them to select strains of plants and breeds of animals specifically tailored to meet specific needs. 
Today, genetic diversity remains essential for the continued sustainability of world agricultural production. 
“Safeguarding and using the potential and diversity of nature is critical for world food security,” stresses the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the importance of biodiversity. 
Biodiversity for food and agriculture includes the components of biological diversity that are essential for feeding human populations and improving the quality of life. It includes the variety and variability of ecosystems, animals, plants and micro-organisms, at the genetic, species and ecosystem levels, which are necessary to sustain human life as well as the key functions of ecosystems. 
Scientists have identified about 1.4 million unique species of plants and animals on the planet — so far. Nearly every day, it seems, a new species is added to the list. 
“This variety of life is essential to human existence,” FAO claims. “We depend on it for food, water, energy, shelter and innumerous other ways as well. But as the planet’s human population continues to expand, this biodiversity is coming under increasing threat.”
 “Every hour three species disappear. Every day up to 150 species are lost,” notes the Convention on Biological Diversity, which has been signed by almost 200 countries already, including the Philippines. 
In terms of food production, the loss of biodiversity is very alarming. FAO cites the following facts and figures:
 · Of the 8,300 animal breeds known, 8 percent are extinct and 22 percent are at risk of extinction.
 · Of the over 80,000 tree species, less than 1 percent has been studied for potential use.
 · Fish provide 20 percent of animal protein to about 3 billion people. Only ten species provide about 30 percent of marine capture fisheries and ten species provide about 50 percent of aquaculture production.
 · Over 80 percent of the human diet is provided by plants. Only five cereal crops provide 60 percent of energy intake.
“Some people will argue that if we lost a number of insects yesterday, and the sun still came up today, does it truly matter?” asked Prof. Norman Myers, authors of several books and has served as a consultant to several UN agencies.
 Here’s what Time, in a special report, has said: “The damage being done is more than aesthetic. Many vanishing species provide humans with both food and medicine. What’s more, once you start tearing out swaths of ecosystem, you upset the existing balance in ways that harm even areas you didn’t intend to touch.”
 Dr. Peter Raven, a noted American biologist, is very much concerned with the fast disappearance of the world’s biodiversity. “Of all the global problems that confront us, species extinction is the one that is moving the most rapidly and the one that will have the most serious consequences,” he contends.
 Unlike other global ecological problems, Dr. Raven stressed, the crisis is completely irreversible. “Extinction is forever,” declared the Washington-based World Resources Institute.
 The main culprit of the disappearance of biodiversity is the destruction of its habitat. “The most visible harm is caused by damage to natural habitats,” FAO says. “Wild species become extinct when the places where they live are destroyed. Pollution, urbanization, deforestation and conversion of wetlands force out wildlife. Mismanagement of agriculture, forestry and fisheries can further accelerate this destructive process.”
 Biodiversity is as just as important on farms and in fields as it is in deep river valleys or mountain cloud forests. “This agricultural biodiversity consists of countless farmed plants that feed and heal people, crop varieties and aquatic species with specific nutritional characteristics, livestock species adapted to harsh environments, insects that pollinate fields and microorganisms that regenerate agricultural soils,” FAO explains. 
In human history, about 7,000 species of plants have been cultivated for consumption. The tropical rainforests are repository of crops. “The rainforest is the host to some 2,500 species of fruits fit for us to eat,” said former Senator Heherson Alvarez, who used to head the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. “Only a few such as banana, grapefruit and pineapples have been commercialized.”
 Alvarez believes that the destruction of rainforests will wipe out its ability to “refuel” existing crops. “Rice, millet, soybean, eggplant, yam and sugarcane originated from there,” he said. “Genetic resources from tropical forests have saved a number of important crops such as cacao, banana and coffee.”
 According to FAO, genetic diversity is essential for the continued sustainability of world agricultural production. “Farmers and agricultural scientists need it in order to adapt plants to changing conditions or expand production in new, previously unfarmed areas,” it says. “The hidden genetic diversity of plants hold the key to improved yields, and crops that not only produce more to eat, but more nutritious food as well.”