Environmental
services from species and ecosystems are essential at global, regional and
local levels. Production of oxygen, reducing carbon dioxide, maintaining the
water cycle, protecting soil is important services. The world now acknowledges
that the loss of biodiversity contributes to global climatic changes. Forests
are the main mechanism for the conversion of carbon dioxide into carbon and
oxygen. The loss of forest cover, coupled with the increasing release of carbon
dioxide and other gases through industrialization contributes to the
‘greenhouse effect’. Global warming is melting ice caps, resulting in a rise in
the sea level which will submerge the low lying areas in the world. It is causing
major atmospheric changes, leading to increased temperatures, serious droughts
in some areas and unexpected floods in other areas. Biological diversity is
also essential for preserving ecological processes, such as fixing and
recycling of nutrients, soil formation, circulation and cleansing of air and
water, global life support (plants absorb CO2, give out O2),
maintaining the water balance within ecosystems, watershed protection,
maintaining stream and river flows throughout the year, erosion control and local
flood reduction. Food, clothing, housing, energy, medicines, are all resources
that are directly or indirectly linked to the biological variety present in the
biosphere. This is most obvious in the tribal communities who gather resources
from the forest, or fisher folk who catch fish in marine or freshwater
ecosystems. For others, such as agricultural communities, biodiversity is used
to grow their crops to suit the environment. Urban communities generally use
the greatest amount of goods and services, which are all indirectly drawn from
natural ecosystems. It has become obvious that the preservation of biological
resources is essential for the well-being and the long-term survival of
mankind. This diversity of living organisms which is present in the wilderness,
as well as in our crops and livestock, plays a major role in human
‘development’. The preservation of ‘biodiversity’ is therefore integral to any
strategy that aims at improving the quality of human life.
Consumptive use value: The direct utilization of timber, food, fuel wood, fodder
by local communities. The biodiversity held in the ecosystem provides forest
dwellers with all their daily needs, food, building material, fodder, medicines
and a variety of other products. They know the qualities and different uses of
wood from different species of trees, and collect a large number of local fruits,
roots and plant material that they use as food, construction material or
medicines. Fisher folk are highly dependent on fish and know where and how to
catch fish and other edible aquatic animals and plants.
Productive use value: The biotechnologist uses bio rich areas to ‘prospect’
and search for potential genetic properties in plants or animals that can be
used to develop better varieties of crops that are used in farming and
plantation programs or to develop better livestock. To the pharmacist,
biological diversity is the raw material from which new drugs can be identified
from plant or animal products. To industrialists; biodiversity is a rich
store-house from which to develop new products. For the agricultural scientist
the biodiversity in the wild relatives of crop plants is the basis for
developing better crops. Genetic diversity enables scientists and farmers to
develop better crops and domestic animals through careful breeding. Originally
this was done by selecting or pollinating crops artificially to get a more
productive or disease resistant strain. Today this is increasingly being done
by genetic engineering, selecting genes from one plant and introducing them
into another. New crop varieties (cultivars) are being developed using the
genetic material found in wild relatives of crop plants through biotechnology. Even today, species of plants and
animals are being constantly discovered in the wild. Thus these wild species
are the building blocks for the betterment of human life and their loss is a great
economic loss to mankind. Among the known species, only a tiny fraction has
been investigated for their value in terms of food, or their medicinal or
industrial potential. Preservation of biodiversity has now become essential for
industrial growth and economic development.
A variety of industries such as pharmaceuticals are highly dependent on
identifying compounds of great economic value from the wide variety of wild
species of plants located in undisturbed natural forests. This is called
biological prospecting.
Social values: While traditional societies which had a small population
and required less resources had preserved their biodiversity as a life
supporting resource, modern man has rapidly depleted it even to the extent of
leading to the irrecoverable loss due to extinction of several species. Thus
apart from the local use or sale of products of biodiversity there is the
social aspect in which more and more resources are used by affluent societies.
The biodiversity has to a great extent been preserved by traditional societies
that valued it as a resource and appreciated that its depletion would be a
great loss to their society. The
consumptive and productive value of biodiversity is closely linked to social
concerns in traditional communities. ‘Ecosystem people’ value biodiversity as a
part of their livelihood as well as through cultural and religious sentiments. A great variety of crops have been
cultivated in traditional agricultural systems and this permitted a wide range
of produce to be grown and marketed throughout the year and acted as an insurance
against the failure of one crop. In recent years farmers have begun to receive
economic incentives to grow cash crops for national or international markets,
rather than to supply local needs. This has resulted in local food shortages,
unemployment (cash crops are usually mechanized), landlessness and increased
vulnerability to drought and floods.
Ethical and moral values: Ethical values related to biodiversity conservation
are based on the importance of protecting all forms of life. All forms of life
have the right to exist on earth. Man is only a small part of the Earth’s great
family of species. Don’t plants and animals have an equal right to live and
exist on our planet which is like an inhabited spaceship? We do not know if life as we know it exists elsewhere in the
universe. Do we have the right to destroy life forms or do we have a duty to
protect them? Apart from the
economic importance of conserving biodiversity, there are several cultural, moral
and ethical values which are associated with the sanctity of all forms of life.
Indian civilization has over several generations preserved nature through local
traditions. This has been an important part of the ancient philosophy of many
of our cultures. We have in our country a large number of sacred groves or
‘deorais’ preserved by tribal people in several States. These sacred groves
around ancient sacred sites and temples act as gene banks of wild plants.
Aesthetic value: Knowledge and an appreciation of the presence of
biodiversity for its own sake is another reason to preserve it. Quite apart
from killing wildlife for food, it is important as a tourist attraction.
Biodiversity is a beautiful and wonderful aspect of nature. Sit in a forest and
listen to the birds. Watch a spider weave its complex web. Observe a fish
feeding. It is magnificent and fascinating.Symbols from wild species such as
the lion of Hinduism, the elephant of Buddhism and deities such as Lord Ganesh,
and the vehicles of several deities that are animals, have been venerated for
thousands of years. Valmiki begins his epic story with a couplet on the
unfortunate killing of a crane by a
hunter. The ‘Tulsi’ has been placed at our doorsteps for centuries.
Option value: Keeping future possibilities open for their use is called
option value. It is impossible to predict which of our species or traditional
varieties of crops and domestic animals will be of great use in the future. To
continue to improve cultivars and domestic livestock, we need to return to wild
relatives of crop plants and animals. Thus the preservation of biodiversity
must also include traditionally used strains already in existence in crops and
domestic animals.
