The Importance of Biodiversity

One of the biggest threats that has emerged in the coming years to the extinction of not only the human race, but millions of species in the world is the decline in biodiversity in our ecosystems.

Biodiversity, for those that are unfamiliar, is the variety of animals, plants, fungi, and microorganisms that make up part of an ecosystem. The reason why they are so important to multiple different aspects of our everyday life.

According to UNICEF, “Biodiversity is essential for human health and well-being, economic prosperity, food safety and security, and other areas critical to all humans and all human societies.”

UNICEF also notes that biodiversity allows for humans, specifically children to be well nourished, gives up purified drinking water, and most of all, helps form the basis for new forms of medicine that are being created and used today.

A paper done by Dr. Nitasha Malhotra of the University of Delhi finds that if we never had any biodiversity, we would all be the same human with the same vulnerabilities, allowing an epidemic to kill everyone in the human race at the same time.

The very survival of not just humans, but all life on earth depends on biodiversity. It depends on the millions of microorganisms, fungi, and plants working together to be able to create the sturdy base that we stand on today.

“Biodiversity sustains the bodies we live in, and affects the lives we lead, and the societies we form.” Without it, we would have never been able to evolve and live in the world that we do now.

A different collaborative study done by professors in biology from multiple different colleges, both inside the US and out, have found a direct correlation between the well-being of humans and the prosperity of biodiversity.

Over a decade of research and different theories that all have somewhat different results all point to one commonality: Human well being in all aspects relies on an expansive, flourishing biodiversity.

The need for preserving biodiversity is more important now in the wake of climate change than ever. With the extreme climate and increased destruction of habitats, much of biodiversity is unable to live, especially since most of them are microorganisms that need specific climate and ecosystem to be able to thrive.

Now that base is weakening. The floor that was once so sturdy is starting to crumble, and if it does, life as we know it will fall into a never ending pit.