Biodiversity is a sound investment, and I don’t just mean that metaphorically.
Every species on earth represents a unique way of coping with the world around us, and each has evolved a unique set of tools, or adaptations to help it do so. Some tools to help find food, mates, tools that help resist pests, and tools that increase a species’ ability or cope with unpredictable change; some species are better able to cope than others.
Environmental change can comes in many forms, and at every scale. From the draining of a wetland, to the crash of an asteroid. But no matter what the cosmos have thrown at it, life always seems to find a way, seem to overcome these disturbances, but how?
When conditions change, plants and animals have three options. They can vamoose, decamp. They can migrate, and disperse to a more favorable region. If there’s enough time, species can evolve new traits and strategies to cope with their new conditions: they can adapt. But if a species is not able to either migrate or adapt, they may face local extinction.
The ability to adapt is crucial for life on earth to cope with changing climates and land uses. The greater the variety of adaptive solutions, the more likely that one will be successful at thriving under new conditions. Since every species has a different approach to coping with change, the existence of each increase the likelihood that a solution, effective at coping with climate change for example, will arise.
Similarly, for species to persist through change, they must have the capacity to adapt. There must be adequate genetic variation within the gene pool from which natural selection can draw upon to select for newly adapted traits. Fragmented populations are less resilient to change, in part because they are not receiving a flow of new genes from surrounding populations for new adaptations to be derived. So when we talk about biodiversity, we mean the variety of species, but also genetic diversity present within a species, essential for the maintenance of future viable populations.
UN Decade on Biodiversity
So important is this biological diversity to the resilience of our plant to future change, that the United Nations has declared 2010-2020 the international Decade of biodiversity. It sounds fantastic, but what does that actually mean for you and me and the rest of the biosphere?
The most powerful part of this declaration is its call to action. The official website reads:
“Each day counts. The actions taken by individuals, stakeholders and governments are important steps, one building on the other, towards protecting the life support systems that not only ensure human well-being, but support the rich variety of life on this planet.” Basically, governments and individuals now not only have an obligation to protect and enhance biodiversity, but are officially mandated to do so under international law. Make no mistake, this is some serious business.
Specific targets have been outlined in their Strategic Plan for Biodiversity, but they boil down to five main goals: