Formulating a future for diversity

Abstract

SYNOPSIS. A significant reduction in the diversity of life on earth is already assured as a result of the loss and degradation of terrestrial and aquatic habitats over past centuries. With continued human population growth, biodiversity will come under even more pressure in coming decades. Yet significant opportunities do exist to lessen the rate of extinction and thereby increase the amount of biodiversity that is passed on to future generations. Strategies for biodiversity conservation must recognize ethical, ecological, and economic values of biodiversity if they are to have the greatest possible impact. All of these values are important in determining the costs of biodiversity loss and the benefits of conservation. In recent years a coalescence of scientific information, heightened economic value, and grassroots activism has stimulated an unparalleled global response to the loss of biodiversity. Linked efforts to save, study, and use the earth's biodiversity sustainably and equitably stand the greatest chance of substantially reducing the rate of diversity's loss. © 1994 by the American Society of Zoologists.