Dr N Janbemo Humtsoe
Green Foundation, Wokha
The world environment day is observed across the world with the theme ‘biodiversity- it’s time for nature’. The theme is aptly chosen and worthy of our attention because biodiversity underpins life and it is indispensable to food security, sustainable development and maintenance of ecological balance on the planet.
Biodiversity is defined as the variety of life on earth, such as, plants, animals, aquatic life, insects and living organismsthat thrives on earth or in a particular habitat or environment. It encompasses some 8 million species on the planet, from plants and animals to fungi and bacteria, and the ecosystems that inhabits them such as the oceans, forests, mountain environments or the coral reefs (UNEP).
Biodiversity provides numerous ecosystem services that are crucial to planetary as well as human well-being.A single spoonful of healthy soil is believed to contain 10,000 to 50,000 different species of bacteria, and in that spoonful of soil there are more microbes than the entire human populations on earth. This biological diversity keeps the soil healthy and alive that can support life, plants and vegetations. Thus, everything that we need including air, water, food and the climate that makes our planet habitable- all come from nature.
In essence, the global economy and human livelihoods depends on biodiversity. It is estimated that roughly US$44 trillion of economic value generation is moderately or highly dependent on nature and its services. Biodiversity makes production systems and livelihoods more resilient to shocks and stresses, including to the effects of climate change. It is a key resource in efforts to increase food production while limiting negative impacts on the environment (The state of the world’s biodiversity- 2019, FAO). Further, biodiversity helps regulate climate through carbon storage and sequestration and also regulates precipitation. It also filters the air and water and mitigates the impact of natural disasters.
The complex system of interrelation between plants, animals and insects has held earth’s fragile environment in perfect balance. The planet provides in abundance the resources that are necessary for humans not only to survive but to emerge as the planet’s dominant species. However, humans have become a voracious top predator and anthropogenic activities have led to loss of biodiversity and species extinctions. Biodiversity loss endangers economies, livelihoods, food security, cultural diversity and quality of life, and constitutes a major threat to global peace and security (UNESCO).
According to the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES, 2018), the main global drivers of biodiversity loss are climate change, invasive species, over- exploitation of natural resources, pollution and urbanization. Biodiversity loss can have significant direct human health impacts and changes in ecosystem services affect livelihoods, income, local migration and may even cause political conflict (WHO).
The total number of animals on the planet has halved since the 1970s, in what some scientists have termed it as biological annihilation or the start of Earth’s sixth mass extinction. Previous mass extinctions have occurred due to volcanic eruptions, deep ice ages, continental collision and asteroid impact. Scientists believed that human activities have significantly changed three quarters of land surface and two thirds of ocean area. Glaciers are melting at astonishing rates; ocean acidifications are increasing and wildlife species are disappearing at hundreds of times faster than before. And if we continue on this path of random destruction, it will have severe implications on our wellbeing and sustainability.
Forests ecosystems are vital for humans and species survival. However, since 1990, over 420 million hectares of forest have been lost through conversion to other land uses, although the rate of deforestation has decreased over the past three decades. Between 2015 and 2020, the rate of deforestation was estimated at 10 million hectares per year, down from 16 million hectares per year in the 1990s. More than 100 million hectares of forests are adversely affected by forest fires, pests, diseases, invasive species, drought and adverse weather events (State of the world’s forest, UNEP, 2020).
Ecological balance is so fragile that losing just a single species or introducing an invasive species could have a domino effect on multiple food chains and habitats. Recently, global media has reported the sightings of Asian giant hornets in the US. These sightings have prompted fears that the vicious bee could establish itself in the United States and devastate other bee populations. Giant hornets prey on honey bees, and a single hornet is capable of killing an entire bee hive. Introduction of such invasive species on new environments or continents could decimate other bee population, which could affect plant growth and productivity, as bees are prodigious pollinators. This year, swarms of locust has been reported to have devastated huge areas of vegetations across Africa and Asia, decimating crops and vegetations that feed tens of millions of people.
Species are also being pushed to the brink of extinction due to human-induced disasters. On May 27th, a gas well belonging to Oil India Limited in Assam’s Tinsukia district erupted, spewing tons of gas and crude oil into the atmosphere. The blowout has displaced over 2500 people, contaminating the nearby vegetations, soil and water bodies; killing wildlife and fishes, including a critically endangered Gangetic river dolphin. Likewise, across the world, human actions including deforestation, carbon emissions, oil spills, wild fires, use of chemical and bio hazards are causing habitat destruction, loss of biodiversity and climate change.
However, nature has enormous ability to recuperate and replenish if given a chance. The spread of COVID 19 across the world has halted economic and industrial activities, and within a span of few months, nature is showing its unique ability to restore to its original state. With less pollution, air quality has improved and even the mighty Himalayas can be seen from hundreds of miles away. Major rivers across the country have become cleaner and there are reports of sightings of rare wildlife species, including the south Asian river dolphins that have been spotted in the Ganga River after 30 years.
Humanity can, therefore, draw valuable lessons from this pandemic on how we can peacefully coexist with nature. Overexploitation of natural resources, without due consideration for sustainability has resulted in destruction of public goods, which comes with negative environmental impacts, including the zoonotic origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. The challenges of the COVID 19, climate change or biodiversity losses, therefore, require us to listen to experts and to unite behind science to find solutions.
