What do we need biodiversity for anyway? Alright we need corn for cornflakes, wheat for bread and cows for steaks and milk. What good is the rest? Who needs puny, irritating insects?

It's ethics AND big business

It is easy to forget that we human s are still just another species in a complex web of constantly evolving life. Did you know, for example, that without bats coffee would be much more expensive? Bats eat insects that would otherwise eat crops or have to be killed by chemical insecticides. Lower yields and expensive chemicals would mean more expensive coffee in the short term – in the longer term perhaps it would mean no coffee at all?

When they are back in their cave the bats turn the insects into guano which we humans pick up and spread on our fields to fertilize it with phosphorous and nitrogen. Another service. Free of charge. And rather than a unique tale this is typical of how earth works.

If for some reason a species of bat should go extinct or disappear from an area other species of bats and birds would most likely begin fill in the job opening. In time new species would evolve to better exploit the niche. Although the disappearance of the first bats would be unfortunate the abundance of similar little helpers would save the day. In other words: we need all of nature in diversity and abundance to have the support of a resilient, strong ecosystem.

In stead we have reduced nature in both abundance and diversity. Compared to a healthy Earth there are relatively few species left and not in large numbers. And we keep killing. We are drastically reducing the resiliency of our own habitat.

And that's just the practical aspect. Of course, there are ethical sides to the issue as well. When I look at images of extinct species I can feel a sting of bitter anger at the people, my own ancestors essentially, who thoughtlessly hunted and killed every last one of their kinds. What will future generations think of me if I allow tigers, rhinos, whales, bats, sparrows, bisons, lynx, tuna and the thousands of other endangered species to go extinct?

Biodiversity facts

The recently released Global Biodiversity Outlook 3 provides a fine resource for facts about the state of nature. Also, read about the UN press conference for the publication of the report. Or, perhaps best, watch this official Global Biodiversity Outlook 3 video:

A few key facts:

• Vertebrate populations have declined with nearly a third within the past 35 years

• Despite conservation efforts (ie some tropical jungle) many habitat types are in retreat

• Genetic diversity of cultivated and domesticated species (farm animals and crops) is dropping

• Most causes of biodiversity loss and extinctions are increasing

• Amphibians and corals are worst off

• There are approximately 1.6 million species on Earth; nearly 60,000 vertebrates

Heard of the GBO and IBD?

They are abbreviations for “Global Biodiversity Outlook” - the above mentioned recurring report on the state of global biodiversity published earlier this May - and “International Biodiversity Day” - which was yesterday, Saturday the 22^nd of May. Plus 2010 is the “International Year of Biodiversity”. We should be seeing biodiversity related events, discussions and news all around us then. Did you?

Probably not. I looked for it and I saw little. Fair enough, our own th!nker Adriankoto Ratozamana put up Your Best action to celebrate the International Day for Biological Diversity for IBD. But in total I count only four articles dedicated to the subject here at TH!NK: Giedre Steikunaite's Hypocrisy of Biodiversity, Johan Knols' BioDIEversity and my own The EU will not accomplish biodiversity goal - sets new deadline. Out of 547 articles – that's about 0.7%. If a blog about the MDGs don't write about biodiversity, who will? Of course, I already wrote about it in TH!NK2 and had a feeling it'd be a tough job:

“when promoting the biodiversity cause change makers can just build on their nice experiences from COP15 in communicating an abstract subject that calls for societal changes going against current economic dogma, right?”

Biodiversity is about as hard to really understand as climate change. And it's even easier to dodge responsibility for it for politicians. Much easier to create sympathy for reducing poverty or improving child health. Mass die off? Nobody cares.

That doesn't mean we should give up fighting for the cause! And I hope my above bat story, embedded video and ultra short list of facts did my own little part for today.