Biodiversity Essay

Everything in the universe is connected for good or bad. The human race has had a huge impact on the world for the better but more likely for the worse. The biodiversity decline we see today is a worrying sign of the adverse effects humans have had on the planet. The 2020 United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity report states we are at a crossroads and we have to take action now to make space for nature to recover and slow its' accelerating decline.” Over the past forty years biodiversity is declining rapidly (Butchart, S.H.M., et al, 2010). The causes of decline are significantly due to human practices such as deforestation, agriculture, and pollution, and overall the increasing climate has a huge impact on biodiversity loss. Action needs to be taken urgently and now more than ever. Throughout the history of the planet, more than 99 % of all forms which lived have already gone through extinction (Raup 1992). This shows extinction is a natural occurrence but not so much at the rate at which it is happening today.

One of the famous factors contributing to biodiversity loss is deforestation. Deforestation is the removal of trees to make space for something viewed as more valuable such as cattle or crops or selling the raw materials of the forest. It has a significant impact on the ecosystem of the forest due to habitat loss which subsequently leads to extinction. This is happening at an alarming rate. The increased demand for palm oil is one of the compelling reasons for deforestation in Southern Asia. This is causing significant habitat loss to familiar exotic animals such as orangutans, tigers, and elephants who rely on the fragile tropical rainforest environments in Malaysia and Indonesia (Rainforest Action Network, n.d.). Palm oil can be used as a greener alternative for fuel than fossil fuels and demand is set to increase by 9% every year (European Commission An EU Strategy for Biofuels Commission of the European Communities 2006). It is ironic that switching to palm oil from fossils fuels is suggested to be more carbon neutral when in fact the number of greenhouse gases and environmental destruction implanted to clear the forest and transport materials, etc may do more harm than good (J. Germer, J. Sauerborn, 2007)? Although palm oil plantations are still technically areas of forest, these forest areas are much less diverse. Unless palm oil production does not destroy forestry areas across the globe production will likely heighten the effects of climate change, and food prices will amplify and thus accelerate biodiversity decline (Fitzherbert, E., Struebig, et al. 2008).

Agriculture alone contributes massively to the loss of biodiversity. Agricultural land takes up 38% of Earth’s terrestrial surface which equates to 4.91 billion hectares (Ramankutty et al., 2008). For wild species of flora and fauna, agricultural practices such as tillage, drainage, intercropping, rotation, grazing, and widespread use of pesticides and fertilizers have major implications (McLaughlin, A. and Mineau, P., 1995). Over 50% of Canada’s Southern wetlands have been lost, 85% due to agricultural land drainage (Keating, 1989). Drainage is done for the benefit of producing a larger yield but at the cost of the local species that inhabit the marshland such as reptiles, amphibians, birds, mammals, and fish (Leighton,1991). One-third of fauna in Canada’s wetlands are deemed endangered, threatened, or rare by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (FON, 1987). While it is clear that it is urgent to conserve remaining wetland ecosystems to preserve biodiversity, for Canadian farmers, there are far more incentives to have higher crop yields and profits than worry about the conservation of precious wetlands, this way of thinking urgently needs to change (McLaughlin, A. and Mineau, P. 1995). According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (2006), the livestock industry is the leading source of biodiversity loss. The production of meat is highly unproductive with up to 16kg of grain needed to produce 1kg of meat and 97% of all soya crops are used to feed livestock (PETA UK, 2017). The use of pesticides on crops and the monoculture created by these vast areas of crops has caused habitat loss and fragmentation due to the disappearance of diverse flora, reducing food and nesting resources for key pollinators. Over 75% of the major world crops and 80% of all flowering plant species rely on animal pollinators (Nabhan GP, Buchmann SL, 1997). A survey of 1509 cultivated plant species uncovered that bees were responsible for pollinating at least 75% of the plants (Renner 1995). The faster these pollinators decline the faster the rate of biodiversity loss. These pollinators are absolutely essential for the maintenance of biodiversity across the globe and with land use changing from diverse forests and meadows to crops and cattle pollinators are rapidly losing habitat and biodiversity is declining.

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Shows only 62% of the global agricultural land directly feeds humans 35% of animals feed indirectly feeds humans but not very efficient if we used our existing agricultural land more effectively we would not have to be constantly expanding agricultural areas and losing mass amounts of forests and biodiversity

It is now clear that humans have caused devastation to the planet. Pollution whether in the atmosphere or hydrosphere is having detrimental impacts on biodiversity. In marine and coastal areas a theme that is becoming increasingly more prominent is plastic pollution. Entanglement and ingestion are the main ways marine biodiversity is affected by plastic contamination (Vegter et al., 2014). These can have lethal consequences for all marine life mistaking plastic for food and then suffocating or being trapped in various pieces of the anthropocentric litter. Microplastics are another kettle of fish. These plastics are between 1-5mm and are easily ingested or absorbed by many organisms. We have found many marine organisms in the fishing industry (fish, mussels, etc.) have been found to have microplastics ingested we can assume that this is not a good thing for human health (Eleonora Guzzetti et al., 2018). This potent substance is losing biodiversity across the globe and will only increase if our reliance on plastic continues.

We are placed in a precarious position in time, what can we all do to mitigate the devastating effects humans have had on the world? Time is something that is important in the effort to save biodiversity. To try and slow the acceleration of biodiversity loss firstly we need to slow the rate of agricultural expansion, especially where it is expanding into delicate ecosystems such as tropical rainforests (Foley, J.A, 2011). We also need to have a shift in mindset about our meat consumption ideally cutting out meat products altogether but reducing it considerably will allow for a more effective agricultural system (Machovina, Feeley, and Ripple, 2015). The leadership of a country and policies are crucial to stopping the loss of biodiversity. Trump's infamous wall has had a more environmental toll on the surrounding environment than we could possibly imagine. The wall among other matters will cut off the main jaguar population, already at risk of extinction, in Mexico from the US. Groundwater is being used to create concrete to build the wall which is draining natural wetlands increasing the risk of extinction and slashing biodiversity(Gilbert, 2020). One environmental activist described that the wall “will choke off life from both sides” (Silva and Gamboa 2017). If we continue to have world leaders that have no interest in saving biodiversity and rejecting the climate crisis the loss of biodiversity will become very serious. Everyone can do their own part by consuming less meat, buying less plastic, relying less on cars, and planting a wildflower area in their garden but for the big changes, we rely solely on our leaders to stop the burning of fossil fuels and implement policies designed to slow climate change.

In conclusion, agriculture is the most important factor in biodiversity loss if we had no desire for large areas of land we would not need to be cutting down precious forests and our climatic impact would be lessened without the transportation of animal feed and products across the globe if we incorporate biodiversity into our crops agree to all reduce our reliance of meat we could have changed at slowing the decline of biodiversity. However, the most effective way to tackle biodiversity loss is if policies are implemented to protect wild areas and increase biodiversity. Biodiversity is at the heart of nature and losing it would cause a ripple effect across the world. “When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe” - John Muir.