The ever-changeable stalwart, La Pantera Rosa asked if I was game to open a new thread on ‘if, how or why biodiversity matters’?
Certainly, the challenge has been begging in many threads across a variety of subject categories. Quite recently I posted that a two-week old cassowary chick was savaged to death by marauding pig-dogs. At the same time, future prospects of the polar bear were under discussion. The former is a federally listed endangered keystone species with fewer individuals in its remaining population than there are Giant Panda in the wild; the latter, has purportedly 20,000 to 25,000 animals remaining.
Quite apart from the context of the two issues, not one comment was received concerning the cassowary, whereas the PB is still enjoying lively debate. Why is one species of greater interest than another in its conservation importance and what are the implications of these predilections for preferential concern?
Agenda 21 – Chapter 15.2: Our planet’s essential goods and services depend on the variety and variability of genes, species, populations and ecosystems. Biological resources feed and clothe us and provide housing, medicines and spiritual nourishment. The natural ecosystems of forests, savannahs, pastures and rangelands, deserts, tundras, rivers, lakes and seas contain most of the Earth’s biodiversity. Farmers’ fields and gardens are also of great importance as repositories, while gene banks, botanical gardens, zoos and other germplasm repositories make a small but significant contribution. The current decline in biodiversity is largely the result of human activity and represents a serious threat to human development.
15.3. Despite mounting efforts over the past 20 years, the loss of the world’s biological diversity, mainly from habitat destruction, over-harvesting, pollution and the inappropriate introduction of foreign plants and animals, has continued. Biological resources constitute a capital asset with great potential for yielding sustainable benefits. Urgent and decisive action is needed to conserve and maintain genes, species and ecosystems, with a view to the sustainable management and use of biological resources. Capacities for the assessment, study and systematic observation and evaluation of biodiversity need to be reinforced at national and international levels. Effective national action and international cooperation is required for the in situ protection of ecosystems, for the ex situ conservation of biological and genetic resources and for the enhancement of ecosystem functions. The participation and support of local communities are elements essential to the success of such an approach. Recent advances in biotechnology have pointed up the likely potential for agriculture, health and welfare and for the environmental purposes of the genetic material contained in plants, animals and micro-organisms. At the same time, it is particularly important in this context to stress that States have the sovereign right to exploit their own biological resources pursuant to their environmental policies, as well as the responsibility to conserve their biodiversity and use their biological resources sustainably, and to ensure that activities within their jurisdiction or control do not cause damage to the biological diversity of other States or of areas beyond the limits of national jurisdiction.
Australia ratified the Convention on Biological Diversity on 18 June 1993. The National Strategy for the Conservation of Australia’s Biological Diversity aims to bridge the gap between current activities and the effective identification, conservation and management of Australia’s biological diversity.
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD has worked in industry and government. She is currently researching a novel technique for long-range weather forecasting funded by the B. Macfie Family Foundation.