Here is your short paragraph on Preservation of Biodiversity!
Biological diversity needs to be preserved; it is vital for the survival of human beings. Loss of biodiversity poses a great threat to the food security of human civilisation.
Many wild varieties of plants constitute important supplies of valuable nutrients to humans. These plants are also a rich source of genetic material which can be used for the further development of domestic crops.
According to the renowned tropical ecologist Norman Meyers, about 80,000 wild plant species could be useful to humans. Unfortunately, factors like overgrazing, forest clearing, conversion of natural lands to agricultural fields and expansion of human settlement in forest areas are gradually destroying our potential food resources.
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According to the estimate of the United Nations Development Programme, Third World plants, animals and microbe resources produce pharmaceuticals worth more than $30 billion every year. The herbal medicines are safeguarded and nurtured by the tribal communities everywhere in the world.
Nowadays, multinational corporations are engaged in the extraction of these indigenous resources against meagre compensation. There should be a global consensus regarding such acts of ‘bio-piracy’. Maintenance of biodiversity has great utilitarian value because forests, particularly the tropical rainforests, are the reservoirs of various economically valuable products, viz., rubber, fibres, oil, gums, tannin, resins and turpentine, among other things.
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Biological diversity directly influences the formation of soil, waste disposal, purification of air and water, nutrient cycle, absorption of solar cycle and hydrological cycle. The services provided by the ecosystem thus are estimated to reach a value of $33 trillion per year.
Field studies conducted by ecologist David Tillman of Minnesota University, USA, suggest that diverse biological resources, rather than fewer species, are better capable of maintaining environmental resources. Despite such wide-ranging studies, our ideas about the role of biodiversity in maintaining the equilibrium in the ecosystem are still not clear. Further research needs to be done on the complex interrelationship between organisms in the ecosystem.
According to one estimate, about 95 per cent of the potential pests and disease-causing organisms are controlled by other organisms—the biocides. These biocides may be killed unintentionally by human intervention, as hardly any detailed idea about these beneficial biocides exists. So, continued human intervention in the ecosystem may render the disease-causing organisms to go unchecked, thus leading to the spread of diseases and loss of biodiversity.
People belonging to almost all cultures enjoy hunting, fishing, observing wildlife etc. These activities are considered to be psychologically as well as spiritually restorative. For many tribal communities, the protection of nature bears immense religious significance. So they seldom allowed their intrusions for basic needs to go beyond a sustainable level. We may have to consciously cultivate the idea of taking steps to preserve biodiversity.