Biodiversity: The forgotten essential service
Reading time: 8 minutes (1182 words)
Within a matter of mere months, society as we know it has changed drastically in response to COVID-19. With such a sudden and dramatic transition, we have a newfound appreciation for the essential services within our community. For those of us confined to our homes, many have come to a newfound appreciation of nature and how it impacts us; yet, often overlooked are the valuable ecosystem services nature also affords us. Human society is built upon such services, yet we increasingly take advantage of them in an unsustainable way. In fact, it could be argued that the current pandemic we are facing is the result of such exploitative actions.
How are biodiversity and the current pandemic connected?
The over-exploitation of our environment often acts as the source of new viruses and diseases like COVID-19, with ecosystem disruption driving the spread of (viruses that are transmitted to us via animals).
These changes are mostly caused by human activities such as uncontrolled expansion of agriculture and mining, as well as the exploitation of wild species which create a 鈥減erfect storm鈥 for the spillover of diseases. An intact ecosystem normally helps to regulate diseases by supporting a diversity of species so that it is more difficult for one pathogen - a virus that can cause a disease - to spill over, amplify or dominate.
David Quammen, author of Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Pandemic summarised our actions and their consequences: 鈥淲e cut the trees; we kill the animals or cage them and send them to markets. We disrupt ecosystems, and we shake viruses loose from their natural hosts. When that happens, they need a new host. Often, we are it鈥.
How did the current pandemic start?
COVID-19 is believed to have its origins at a wet market in . 鈥淲et markets make a location for cross-species transmission of pathogens,鈥 says David Quammen.
At wet markets, viruses can spread more easily as animals are mostly kept in dirty, cramped conditions. As those animals are under pressure viral pathogens find it easier to intermingle into the genetic code and mutate in ways which makes them more transmissible between species. This is the case with COVID-19, which most likely jumped to food handlers or customers through the exposure to animal鈥檚 bodily fluids.
Growing evidence suggests that outbreaks or epidemic diseases may become more frequent as our climate continues to change. Responses to future pandemics will need to arise at a governmental level. Current government recovery packages are aimed at bolstering failing economies. However, in order to tackle the problem at its source, financial aid should be given to strengthen environmental protection e.g. increasing biodiversity, as it was planned for the year of 2020.
2020 - Dubbed as the year for biodiversity, stumped by corona
2020 had been dubbed the for biodiversity around the world, with an array of nature-related meetings on the agenda primed to reset the way our biodiversity is treated. The first of these was the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS COP13) in January. The culminating event is set to be the UN Biodiversity Conference, postponed due to COVID-19 with the new date still to be confirmed.
The CMS COP13 was the largest nature related event in history, and a necessary step considering a presented to the convention stated that the populations of 鈥渕ost migratory species covered by CMS are declining鈥. Furthermore, a selection of seven species were designated highest level of protection and a further three species have been added to the list in which they will receive 鈥渆nhanced international cooperation and conservation actions鈥.
Super Year 2020 for biodiversity on hold
With reports coming through of and animals taking control of deserted villages, you could say that COVID-19 has allowed the planet to breathe while we ease the pressure we place on it. However, while the world is experiencing a stand-still, some of the super plans for biodiversity have been postponed or have been redirected to a virtual format. This might mena that the urgent action required to help and promote biodiversity will also be delayed. In saying this, it is important to reflect on the effect the corona period is having on nature and how nature had its part to play in its release. The world is breathing in fresh air now but what will happen when the doors open up again? We can鈥檛 allow a business-as-usual scenario to continue and perhaps COVID-19 has helped us realise this more than ever.
What can we learn from this crisis?
Sometimes we don鈥檛 get to appreciate the incredible diversity in our lives until we can no longer access it with ease. That has become one of the many lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic: to really appreciate all that we have around us. Right now, as we experience an extinction of the experience, we can come to really appreciate the need for diversity in our lives. Perhaps this will also allow us to better appreciate, and therefore respect, the biodiversity of our planet. Just as we rely on diverse experiences to enrich our lives, so too do ecosystems and ecosystem services rely on biodiversity.
Biodiversity, however, is even more quintessential for our lives than simple diversity. Biodiversity allows for all of Nature鈥檚 niches to be filled and optimized, which in turn forms the bedrock for all ecosystem services we rely on. Ecosystem services are only possible because a biodiverse world has allowed those niches to be filled, acting as an insurance policy that Nature has to protect. Alas, just as we use diversity in our lives to enrich it, we also rely on the biodiversity within the world to continue our lives.
Yet, before COVID-19, we turned a blind eye to the damage we caused to the fragile biodiversity of our planet. We have over (out of 8,000,000) listed as endangered, and yet we have plowed forward in the relentless expansion of our damaging ways.
As we have all remained in isolation during this pandemic, we have seen tiny glimpses of nature making its way back into society. While these happenings, from and lions in the streets of South Africa to , are enjoyable and perhaps offer us hope for the species of our planet, we must acknowledge that these events are but microscopic blimps of the progress we need to make. But, we have now seen that as a global community we can change for a greater good. We have now seen that as a global community, we can unite to face a crisis, and make tangible, calculated, and impactful steps in the right direction. Thus, now more than ever, we have shown our potential to step up our response to the biodiversity loss crisis, the climate change crisis, and ultimately, the sustainability crisis. We have shown that we can adapt, we have shown that we can live symbiotically with change. Now, let鈥檚 show that we can do so for the benefit of the entire planet and all the diversity of life within it.