Biodiversity and Its Conservation

Abstract

Environmentalists might define biodiversity as the total sum of all plant and animal life on the Earth and air, water, and land that support animal and plant life. It is an attribute of an area and specifically refers to the variety within and among living organisms, assemblages of living organisms, biotic communities, and biotic processes, whether naturally occurring or modified by humans. The richness of biodiversity provides humans a food security, health care, and industrial commodities that have support to high standard of living in the modern world. This diversity of organisms makes a sustainable support system which is utilized by every society/nation for its growth, development, and betterment. Those that overused or misused it are decayed. Animal, plant, and marine biodiversity consists of the natural capital that keeps our ecosystems functional and economically productive. The real problem the world faces, however, is the conservation of biodiversity. If we utilize this biodiversity in a sustainable manner, we can develop new products/services for several generations. It is only possible when we treat biodiversity as a valuable resource and prevent extinction of species globally. But the world is facing a dramatic loss of biodiversity. The loss of biodiversity has adverse effects on living being, water supply, food security, and resilience to extreme events. It has consequences for 78 % of the world’s extreme poor who live in rural areas and rely on ecosystems and the goods they produce to make a living. Conservation of biological diversity leads to conservation of crucial ecological diversity to preserve the continuity of food chains. Conservation of wildlife along with their natural habitats is the demand of the present scenario and the only way to moderate the self-destruction processes initiated by the mankind since the beginning of human civilization. The two conservation strategies are ex situ (outside natural habitat) and in situ (within natural habitat). Zoo, cryopreservation, and seed bank are the common examples of ex situ conservation, and protected areas like national park, sanctuary, biosphere reserve, conservation reserve, community reserve, etc. are examples of in situ conservation. Biological diversity has no regional/ national territories, and its conservation is therefore a combined responsibility of every society/country for the stable and healthy world.