Saving Biodiversity

The planet’s dizzying levels of diversity from animals to plants, and even the ecosystems they inhabit are all crucial elements that act in an immaculate balance to keep the Earth’s systems in check. Every single day we learn more and more about the how precious our planet is, from discovering new species to discovering innovative ways to cure human disease from obscure sources we rely on the huge diversity that the planet offers us for survival.

The only problem with this reliance on nature’s diversity of life (known as biodiversity) is that we are losing so much of it at a rate of up to 200-2,000 species every year. Natural extinction just occurs through survival of the fittest, but the rate that we are currently losing species is up to 1,000 and 10,000 faster than what the planet’s natural extinction rate is. This is cause for problem. We will never stop relying on the planet for resources, but at the same time this reliance will cause our planet’s eventual destruction. The planet is now relying on us for survival.

Conservation of species and ecosystems is becoming a crucial part of how we manage land. Especially in Australia, where the species and ecosystems have been hit the hardest by not only human impacts, but also global climate change. Australia has one of the highest levels of species loss in the world. Our biodiversity has been dealt blow after blow , we have lost over 75% of our rain forests in the last year and as much as 35% of all species lost in globally have been from Australia .

So how can we fix this? How can we maintain our biodiversity at the stage that is at? How do we prevent even more extinction from occurring?

The answer to all those questions isn’t simple, but we can start with conserving and protecting what remaining species and ecosystems that we have. There isn’t any stock standard solution that we can all use that will apply to every species and every solution. The Earth’s biodiversity means just that, every species that needs to be conserved has to be done so on a case by case basis. Therefore, drawing awareness to the dire state of our biodiversity and the ongoing plight of those striving to protect and conserve it is crucial.

Conservation is SO important. But so is awareness.