Biodiversity, key to sustaining life on earth

Satyawan Wardhana, Head, Biosafety Division, State Ministry of Environment, Jakarta

Biodiversity is often taken to mean a wide variety of plants, animals and microorganisms. It also embraces genetic differences within each species. Chromosomes, genes and DNA -- the building blocks of life -- determine the uniqueness of each individual and species.

Yet another aspect of biodiversity is the variety of ecosystems. In each ecosystem, living creatures, including humans, form a community, interacting with each another and with the air, water and soil around them. Biodiversity provides a large number of goods and services that sustain our lives.

In 1999, the world's population reached 6 billion. UN experts predict the world will have to find resources for a population of 9 billion people in 50 years. Yet, our demands on the world's natural resources are growing even faster than our numbers: Since 1950, the population has more than doubled, but the global economy has quintupled.

Our settlement patterns are changing our relationship with the environment. Nearly half the world's people live in towns and cities. More and more people associate food with stores, rather than with their natural sources.

Biological resources are the pillars upon which we build civilizations. Nature's products support industries as diverse as agriculture and pharmaceuticals. Time after time we have rushed back to nature's cupboard for cures to illnesses or for infusions of tough genes from wild plants to save our crops from pest outbreaks.

These natural services are so varied as to be almost infinite. For example, it would be impractical to replace, to any large extent, services such as pest control performed by various creatures feeding on one another, or pollination performed by insects and birds going about their everyday business.

For thousands of years we have been developing a vast array of domesticated plants and animals important for food. But this treasure-house is shrinking as modern commercial agriculture focuses on relatively few crop varieties. Furthermore, about 30 percent of breeds of the main farm animal species are currently at high risk of extinction.

Yet, the fragmentation, degradation and outright loss of forests, wetlands, coral reefs and other ecosystems pose the gravest threat to biological diversity.

Forests are home to much of the known terrestrial biodiversity, but about 45 percent of the earth's original forests are gone, cleared mostly during the last century.

Up to 10 percent of coral reefs have been destroyed, and one- third of the remainder face collapse over the next 10 years to 20 years.

Global atmospheric changes, such as ozone depletion and climate change, only add to the stress. A thinner ozone layer lets more ultraviolet-B radiation reach the earth's surface, where it damages living tissue. Global warming is already changing habitats and the distribution of species.

Scientists warn that even a one-degree increase in the average global temperature, if it were to occur rapidly, would push many species over the brink. Our food production systems could also be seriously disrupted.

The loss of biodiversity often reduces the productivity of ecosystems, thereby shrinking nature's basket of goods and services. It destabilizes ecosystems, and weakens their ability to deal with natural disasters such as flooding, drought and hurricanes, and with human-caused stresses, such as pollution and climate change. Already, we are spending huge sums in response to flood and storm damage that has been exacerbated by deforestation.

The reduction in biodiversity also hurts us in other ways. Our cultural identity is deeply rooted in our biological environment. Plants and animals are symbols of our world, preserved in flags, sculptures and other images that define us and our societies.

Can we save the world's ecosystems, and with them the species we value and the other millions of species, some of which may produce the foods and medicines of tomorrow? This depends on our ability to bring our demands into line with nature's ability to produce what we need and to safely absorb what we throw away.

A major challenge for the 21st century will be making conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity a compelling basis for development policies, business decisions and consumer desires.

The greatest crunch in sustainable development decisions is the short- versus long-term time frame. Sadly, it often still pays to exploit the environment now by harvesting as much and as fast as possible, because economic rules do little to protect long-term interests.

Truly sustainable development requires countries to redefine their policies on land use, food, water, energy, employment, development, conservation, economics and trade. Biodiversity protection and sustainable use require the participation of ministries responsible for areas such as agriculture, forestry, fisheries, energy, tourism, trade and finance.

The challenge facing governments, businesses and citizens is to forge transition strategies leading to long-term sustainable development. It means negotiating tradeoffs, even as people are clamoring for more land, and businesses are pressing for concessions to expand their harvests. The longer we wait, the fewer options we shall have.

The transition to sustainable development requires a shift in public attitudes as to what is an acceptable use of nature. This can only happen if people have the right information, skills and organizations for understanding and dealing with biodiversity issues. Governments and the business community need to invest in staff and training, and they need to support organizations, including scientific bodies, that can deal with and advise on biodiversity issues.

We also need public education to bring about changes in behavior and lifestyles, and to prepare societies for the changes needed for sustainability.

While governments should play a leadership role, other sectors need to be actively involved. It is the choices and actions of billions of individuals that will determine whether or not biodiversity is conserved and used sustainably.

In an era when economics is a dominant force, it is more important than ever to have business willingly involved in environmental protection and the sustainable use of nature.

Fortunately, a growing number of companies have decided to apply the principles of sustainable development to their operations. A number of forestry companies have moved from clear- cutting to less destructive forms of timber harvesting.

More and more companies have also found ways to make a profit, while reducing their environmental impacts. They view sustainable development as ensuring long-term profitability and increased goodwill from their business partners, employees and consumers.

Local communities play a key role, as they are the true "managers" of the ecosystems in which they live. Many projects have been successfully developed in recent years, involving local communities in sustainable management.

Finally, the ultimate decision-maker for biodiversity is the individual citizen. The small choices that individuals make add up to a large impact because it is personal consumption that drives development, which in turn uses and pollutes nature.

By carefully choosing the products they buy and the government policies they support, the public can begin to steer the world towards sustainable development. Governments, companies and others have a responsibility to lead and inform the public, but ultimately, it is individual choices, made billions of times a day, that count the most.