essay on protection of biodiversity

Essay on Conservation of Biodiversity for Students and Children

500+ words essay on conservation of biodiversity.

Conservation of biodiversity is vital for maintaining the Earth’s environment and sustaining life on the planet. There are a number of ways in which the richness of biodiversity helps in maintaining the ecological system. Conservation of biodiversity is important for the survival of living beings on Earth. Hence, a lot of emphases is being given on the conservation of biodiversity these days.

The Extinction in Biodiversity

Due to human activities, numerous varieties of animals go extinct each year. Western Black Rhinoceros, Dodo, Tasmanian tiger, Golden Toad, Woolly Mammoth, Caribbean Monk Seal, Ivory-billed Woodpecker, and Japanese Sea Lion are some of the species of animals that have gone extinct.

Lemur, Mountain Gorilla, Vaquita, Sea Turtles, Amur Leopard, and Tiger are some of the species that are on the verge of extinction. Apart from these many species of plants and trees including Lepidodendron, Araucaria Mirabilis, Wood Cycad and Kokia Cookie have gone extinct and many species are endangered.

Need to Conserve Biodiversity

Earth is a beautiful planet which has given us many things which occur naturally. Natural resources, rivers, valleys , oceans, different species of animals and beautiful varieties of plants and trees are among some of these.

In today’s world, we are busy developing our surroundings and spoiling our beautiful environment. Today, we have exploited most of the things that were available abundantly in nature. Thus, there arises a need to conserve these natural things. Among other things, there is a serious need for the conservation of biodiversity.

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Importance of Conservation of Biodiversity

Conservation of biodiversity is important for many reasons. Here are some of the main reasons to conserve biodiversity:

• Process of Food Chain: Different species of animals and plants serve as the source of food for other animals and living organisms. Thus, conserving biodiversity help to keep the food chain among the living organisms.
• Nutritional Needs: The decline in the variety of plants and animals would mean the decline in the variety of food we eat. So, this is likely to result in nutritional deficiencies.
• Cleaner Air: Plants and trees have a greater ability to purify the air and keep the atmosphere clean. As there is a decrease in the number and types of trees and plants, it impacts the quality of air in a negative way.
• Better Cultivation of Crops:   Fertility of soil is maintained by many insects, organisms and microorganisms work on different levels. So we have to maintain the level of microorganism which is better for the cultivation of crops.
• For Medical Reason s: For making different medicines many species of trees and plants are used so as to cure various diseases.

Methods to Conserve Biodiversity

Methods that can help in the conservation of biodiversity are

• Control Population: The greater the population the higher the needs which would result in further exploitation of flora and fauna and decline in biodiversity. For the conservation of biodiversity, we have to control the human population and allow other species of plants and animals to replenish on our planet.
• Control Pollution: The changing climate, deteriorating air quality and the growing amount of pollution on land and water bodies are leading to different types of diseases in many. It is essential to reduce the activities leading to pollution so as to conserve biodiversity.
• Reduce Deforestation: Due to deforestation, there is the loss of habitat. Due to this reason, wild animals are unable to survive in the new environment and die.
• Avoid Wastage: We need to understand that natural resources are not only essential for us but are also vital for the survival of other species. We must thus utilize only as much as we require them so that these remain available in abundance in nature for future use.
• Spread Awareness: Apart from this, one of the best methods to conserve biodiversity is by spreading awareness. The government can do so at a bigger level. While we can spread awareness by word of mouth and through social media.

Conservation of biodiversity is of utmost importance. We must all make efforts to conserve biodiversity rather than contributing towards its declination. Thus, the richness of biodiversity is essential for the survival of living beings on Earth.

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Conservation

In defense of biodiversity: why protecting species from extinction matters.

By Carl Safina • February 12, 2018

A number of biologists have recently made the argument that extinction is part of evolution and that saving species need not be a conservation priority. But this revisionist thinking shows a lack of understanding of evolution and an ignorance of the natural world. 

A few years ago, I helped lead a ship-based expedition along south Alaska during which several scientists and noted artists documented and made art from the voluminous plastic trash that washes ashore even there. At Katmai National Park, we packed off several tons of trash from as distant as South Asia. But what made Katmai most memorable was: huge brown bears. Mothers and cubs were out on the flats digging clams. Others were snoozing on dunes. Others were patrolling.

During a rest, several of us were sitting on an enormous drift-log, watching one mother who’d been clamming with three cubs. As the tide flooded the flat, we watched in disbelief as she brought her cubs up to where we were sitting — and stepped up on the log we were on. There was no aggression, no tension; she was relaxed. We gave her some room as she paused on the log, and then she took her cubs past us into a sedge meadow. Because she was so calm, I felt no fear. I felt the gift.

In this protected refuge, bears could afford a generous view of humans. Whoever protected this land certainly had my gratitude.

In the early 20th century, a botanist named Robert F. Griggs discovered Katmai’s volcanic “Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes.” In love with the area, he spearheaded efforts to preserve the region’s wonders and wildlife. In 1918, President Woodrow Wilson established Katmai National Monument (now Katmai National Park and Preserve ), protecting 1,700 square miles, thus ensuring a home for bear cubs born a century later, and making possible my indelible experience that day. As a legacy for Griggs’ proclivity to share his love of living things, George Washington University later established the Robert F. Griggs Chair in Biology.

That chair is now occupied by a young professor whose recent writing probably has Griggs spinning in his grave. He is R. Alexander Pyron . A few months ago,  The Washington Post published a “ Perspective” piece by Pyron that is an extreme example of a growing minority opinion in the conservation community, one that might be summarized as, “Humans are profoundly altering the planet, so let’s just make peace with the degradation of the natural world.” 

No biologist is entitled to butcher the scientific fundamentals on which they hang their opinions.

Pyron’s essay – with lines such as, “The only reason we should conserve biodiversity is for ourselves, to create a stable future for human beings” and “[T]he impulse to conserve for conservation’s sake has taken on an unthinking, unsupported, unnecessary urgency” – left the impression that it was written in a conservative think tank, perhaps by one of the anti-regulatory zealots now filling posts throughout the Trump administration. Pyron’s sentiments weren’t merely oddly out of keeping with the legacy of the man whose name graces his job title. Much of what Pyron wrote is scientifically inaccurate. And where he stepped out of his field into ethics, what he wrote was conceptually confused.

Pyron has since posted, on his website and Facebook page, 1,100 words of frantic backpedaling that land somewhere between apology and retraction, including mea culpas that he “sensationalized” parts of his own argument and “cavalierly glossed over several complex issues.” But Pyron’s original essay and his muddled apology do not change the fact that the beliefs he expressed reflect a disturbing trend that has taken hold among segments of the conservation community. And his article comes at a time when conservation is being assailed from other quarters, with a half-century of federal protections of land being rolled back, the Endangered Species Act now more endangered than ever, and the relationship between extinction and evolution being subjected to confused, book-length mistreatment.

Pyron’s original opinion piece, so clear and unequivocal in its assertions, is a good place to unpack and disentangle accelerating misconceptions about the “desirability” of extinction that are starting to pop up like hallucinogenic mushrooms.

In recent years, some biologists and writers have been distancing themselves from conservation’s bedrock idea that in an increasingly human-dominated world we must find ways to protect and perpetuate natural beauty, wild places, and the living endowment of the planet. In their stead, we are offered visions of human-dominated landscapes in which the stresses of destruction and fragmentation spur evolution. 

White rhinoceros ( Ceratotherium simum ). Source: Herman Pijpers/ Flickr

Conservation International ditched its exuberant tropical forest graphic for  a new corporate logo  whose circle and line were designed to suggest a human head and outstretched arms. A few years ago, Peter Kareiva, then chief scientist for The Nature Conservancy,  said , “conservationists will have to jettison their idealized notions of nature, parks, and wilderness,” for  “a more optimistic, human-friendly vision.” Human annihilation of the passenger pigeon, he wrote, caused “no catastrophic or even measurable effects,” characterizing the total extinction of the hemisphere’s most abundant bird — whose population went from billions to zero inside a century (certainly a “measurable effect” in itself) — as an example of nature’s “resilience.”

British ecologist Chris Thomas’s recent book, Inheritors of the Earth: How Nature is Thriving in an Age of Extinction, argues that the destruction of nature creates opportunities for evolution of new lifeforms that counterbalance any losses we create, an idea that is certainly optimistic considering the burgeoning lists of endangered species. Are we really ready to consider that disappearing rhinos are somehow counterbalanced by a new subspecies of daisy in a railroad track? Maybe it would be simpler if Thomas and his comrades just said, “We don’t care about nature.’’

Enter Pyron, who — at least in his initial essay — basically said he doesn’t. He’s entitled to his apathy, but no biologist is entitled to butcher the scientific fundamentals on which they hang their opinions.

Pyron began with a resonant story about his nocturnal rediscovery of a South American frog that had been thought recently extinct. He and colleagues collected several that, he reassured us, “are now breeding safely in captivity.” As we breathed a sigh of relief, Pyron added, “But they will go extinct one day, and the world will be none the poorer for it.” 

The conviction that today’s slides toward mass extinction are not inevitable spurred the founding of the conservation movement.

I happen to be writing this in the Peruvian Amazon, having just returned from a night walk to a light-trap where I helped a biologist collect moths. No one yet knows how many species live here. Moths are important pollinators. Knowing them helps detangle a little bit of how this rainforest works. So it’s a good night to mention that the number of species in an area carries the technical term “species richness.” More is richer, and fewer is, indeed, poorer. Pyron’s view lies outside scientific consensus and societal values. 

Pyron wasn’t concerned about his frogs going extinct, because, “Eventually, they will be replaced by a dozen or a hundred new species that evolve later.” But the timescale would be millennia at best — meaningless in human terms — and perhaps never; hundreds of amphibians worldwide are suffering declines and extinctions, raising the possibility that major lineages and whole groups of species will vanish. Pyron seemed to have no concerns about that possibility, writing, “Mass extinctions periodically wipe out up to 95 percent of all species in one fell swoop; these come every 50 million to 100 million years.”

But that’s misleading. “Periodically” implies regularity. There’s no regularity to mass extinctions. Not in their timing, nor in their causes. The mass extinctions are not related. Three causes of mass extinctions — prolonged worldwide atmosphere-altering volcanic eruptions; a dinosaur-snuffing asteroid hit; and the spreading agriculture, settlement, and sheer human appetite driving extinctions today — are unrelated.

Rio Pescado stubfoot toad ( Atelopus balios ). Source: De Investigación y Conservación de Anfibios/ Flickr

The conviction that today’s slides toward mass extinction are not inevitable, and could be lessened or avoided, spurred the founding of the conservation movement and created the discipline of conservation biology.

But Pyron seems unmoved. “Extinction is the engine of evolution, the mechanism by which natural selection prunes the poorly adapted and allows the hardiest to flourish,” he declared. “Species constantly go extinct, and every species that is alive today will one day follow suit. There is no such thing as an ‘endangered species,’ except for all species.”

Let us unpack. Extinction is not evolution’s driver; survival is. The engine of evolution is survival amidst competition. It’s a little like what drives innovation in business. To see this, let’s simply compare the species diversity of the Northern Hemisphere, where periodic ice sheets largely wiped the slate clean, with those of the tropics, where the evolutionary time clock continued running throughout. A couple of acres in eastern temperate North America might have a dozen tree species or fewer. In the Amazon a similar area can have 300 tree species. All of North American has 1,400 species of trees; Brazil has 8,800. All of North America has just over 900 birds; Colombia has 1,900 species. All of North America has 722 butterfly species. Where I am right now, along the Tambopata River in Peru, biologists have tallied around 1,200 butterfly species.

Competition among living species drives proliferation into diversified specialties. Specialists increasingly exploit narrowing niches. We can think of this as a marketplace of life, where little competition necessitates little specialization, thus little proliferation. An area with many types of trees, for instance, directly causes the evolution of many types of highly specialized pollinating insects, hummingbirds, and pollinating bats, who visit only the “right” trees. Many flowering plants are pollinated by just one specialized species.

Pyron muddles several kinds of extinctions, then serves up further misunderstanding of how evolution works. So let’s clarify. Mass extinctions are global; they involve the whole planet. There have been five mass extinctions and we’ve created a sixth . Past mass extinctions happened when the entire planet became more hostile. Regional wipeouts, as occurred during the ice ages, are not considered mass extinctions, even though many species can go extinct. Even without these major upheavals there are always a few species blinking out due to environmental changes or new competitors. And there are pseudo-extinctions where old forms no longer exist, but only because their descendants have changed through time. 

New species do not suddenly “arise,” nor are they really new. They evolve from existing species, as population gene pools change.

Crucially for understanding the relationship between extinction and evolution is this: New species do not suddenly “arise,” nor are they really new. New species evolve from existing species, as population gene pools change. Many “extinct” species never really died out; they just changed into what lives now. Not all the dinosaurs went extinct; theropod dinosaurs survived. They no longer exist because they evolved into what we call birds. Australopithecines no longer exist, but they did not all go extinct. Their children morphed into the genus Homo, and the tool- and fire-making Homo erectus may well have survived to become us. If they indeed are our direct ancestor — as some species was — they are gone now, but no more “extinct” than our own childhood. All species come from ancestors, in lineages that have survived.

Pyron’s contention that the “hardiest” flourish is a common misconception. A sloth needs to be slow; a faster sloth is going to wind up as dinner in a harpy eagle nest. A white bear is not “hardier” than a brown one; the same white fur that provides camouflage in a snowy place will scare away prey in green meadow. Bears with genes for white fur flourished in the Arctic, while brown bears did well amidst tundra and forests. Polar bears evolved from brown bears of the tundra; they got so specialized that they separated, then specialized further. Becoming a species is a process, not an event. “New” species are simply specialized descendants of old species.

True extinctions beget nothing. Humans have recently sped the extinction rate by about a thousand times compared to the fossil record. The fact that the extinction of dinosaurs was followed, over tens of millions of years, by a proliferation of mammals, is irrelevant to present-day decisions about rhinos, elephant populations, or monarch butterflies. Pyron’s statement, “There is no such thing as an ‘endangered species,’ except for all species,” is like saying there are no endangered children except for all children. It’s like answering “Black lives matter” with “All lives matter.” It’s a way of intentionally missing the point. 

Chestnut-sided warbler ( Setophaga pensylvanica ). Source: Francesco Veronesi/ Wikimedia

Here’s the point: All life today represents non-extinctions; each species, every living individual, is part of a lineage that has not gone extinct in a billion years.

Pyron also expressed the opinion that “the only reason we should conserve biodiversity is for ourselves …” I don’t know of another biologist who shares this opinion. Pyron’s statement makes little practical sense, because reducing the diversity and abundance of the living world will rob human generations of choices, as values change. Save the passenger pigeon? Too late for that. Whales? A few people acted in time to keep most of them. Elephants? Our descendants will either revile or revere us for what we do while we have the planet’s reins in our hands for a few minutes. We are each newly arrived and temporary tourists on this planet, yet we find ourselves custodians of the world for all people yet unborn. A little humility, and forbearance, might comport.

Thus Pyron’s most jarring assertion: “Extinction does not carry moral significance, even when we have caused it.” That statement is a stranger to thousands of years of philosophy on moral agency and reveals an ignorance of human moral thinking. Moral agency issues from an ability to consider consequences. Humans are the species most capable of such consideration. Thus many philosophers consider humans the only creatures capable of acting as moral agents. An asteroid strike, despite its consequences, has no moral significance. Protecting bears by declaring Katmai National Monument, or un-protecting Bears Ears National Monument, are acts of moral agency. Ending genetic lineages millions of years old, either actively or by the willful neglect that Pyron advocates, certainly qualifies as morally significant.

Do we really wish a world with only what we “rely on for food and shelter?” Do animals have no value if we don’t eat them?

How can we even decide which species we “directly depend’’ upon? We don’t directly depend on peacocks or housecats, leopards or leopard frogs, humpback whales or hummingbirds or chestnut-sided warblers or millions of others. Do we really wish a world with only what we “rely on for food and shelter,” as Pyron seemed to advocate? Do animals have no value if we don’t eat them? I happen not to view my dogs as food, for instance. Things we “rely on” make life possible, sure, but the things we don’t need make life worthwhile.

When Pyron wrote, “Conservation is needed for ourselves and only ourselves… If this means fewer dazzling species, fewer unspoiled forests, less untamed wilderness, so be it,” he expressed a dereliction of the love, fascination, and perspective that motivates the practice of biology.

Here is a real biologist, Alfred Russell Wallace, co-discoverer of evolution by natural selection:

I thought of the long ages of the past during which the successive generations of these things of beauty had run their course … with no intelligent eye to gaze upon their loveliness, to all appearances such a wanton waste of beauty… . This consideration must surely tell us that all living things were not made for man… . Their happiness and enjoyments, their loves and hates, their struggles for existence, their vigorous life and early death, would seem to be immediately related to their own well-being and perpetuation alone. —The Malay Archipelago, 1869

At the opposite pole of Wallace’s human insight and wonder, Pyron asked us to become complicit in extinction. “The goals of species conservation have to be aligned with the acceptance that large numbers of animals will go extinct,” he asserted. “Thirty to 40 percent of species may be  threatened  with extinction in the near future, and their loss may be inevitable. But both the planet and humanity can probably survive or even thrive in a world with fewer species … The species that we rely on for food and shelter are a tiny proportion of total biodiversity, and most humans live in — and rely on — areas of only moderate biodiversity, not the Amazon or the Congo Basin.”

African elephant ( Loxodonta africana ). Source: Flowcomm/ Flickr

Right now, in the Amazon as I type, listening to nocturnal birds and bugs and frogs in this towering emerald cathedral of life, thinking such as Pyron’s strikes me as failing to grasp both the living world and the human spirit. 

The massive destruction that Pyron seems to so cavalierly accept isn’t necessary. When I was a kid, there were no ospreys, no bald eagles, no peregrine falcons left around New York City and Long Island where I lived. DDT and other hard pesticides were erasing them from the world. A small handful of passionate people sued to get those pesticides banned, others began breeding captive falcons for later release, and one biologist brought osprey eggs to nests of toxically infertile parents to keep faltering populations on life support. These projects succeeded. All three of these species have recovered spectacularly and now again nest near my Long Island home. Extinction wasn’t a cost of progress; it was an unnecessary cost of carelessness. Humans could work around the needs of these birds, and these creatures could exist around development. But it took some thinking, some hard work, and some tinkering.

It’s not that anyone thinks humans have not greatly changed the world, or will stop changing it. Rather, as the great wildlife ecologist Aldo Leopold wrote in his 1949 classic A Sand County Almanac , “To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering.”

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Biodiversity: What is it and how can we protect it?

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The UN and its global partners will grapple with the massive loss of animal and plant species and how to avoid further extinction at a major conference beginning 23 January. Here’s a primer on what exactly biodiversity is and how the UN can help support efforts to enable nature to survive and thrive.

What does 'biodiversity' mean and why is it important?

In simple terms, biodiversity refers to all types of life on Earth. The UN Convention on Biological Diversity ( CBD ) describes it as “the diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems, including plants, animals, bacteria, and fungi”. These three levels work together to create life on Earth, in all its complexity.

The diversity of species keep the global ecosystem in balance, providing everything in nature that we, as humans, need to survive, including food, clean water, medicine and shelter.  Over  half of global GDP  is strongly dependent on nature. More than one billion people  rely on forests  for their livelihoods.

Biodiversity is also our strongest natural defence against  climate change . Land and ocean ecosystems act as “carbon sinks”, absorbing more than half of all carbon emissions.

Why are we talking about it now?

Because the first big push of the year to put the UN’s bold plan to protect biodiversity into practice  takes place in the Swiss capital, Bern , between 23 and 25 January. 

Introducing the conference, Patricia Kameri-Mbote, Director of the United Nations Environment Programme ( UNEP ) Law Division,  warned that the lack of coordination between the various organizations trying to protect biodiversity is a “critical challenge” that needs to be urgently overcome “as we strive for a world living in harmony with nature by 2050”. A key aim of the conference will be to solve that problem by pulling together the various initiatives taking place across the world.

Is there a crisis?

Yes. It’s very serious, and it needs to be urgently tackled. 

Starting with the natural and land sea carbon sinks mentioned above. They are being degraded, with examples including the deforestation of the Amazon and the disappearance of salt marshes and mangrove swamps, which remove large amounts of carbon. The way we use the land and sea is one of the biggest drivers of biodiversity loss. Since 1990, around 420 million hectares of forest have been lost through conversion to other land uses. Agricultural expansion continues to be the main driver of deforestation, forest degradation and forest biodiversity loss.

Other major drivers of species decline include overfishing and the introduction of invasive alien species (species that have entered and established themselves in the environment outside their natural habitat, causing the decline or even extinction of native species and negatively affecting ecosystems).

These activities, UNEP has shown , are pushing around a million species of plants and animals towards extinction. They range from the critically endangered South China tiger and Indonesian orangutans to supposedly “ common” animals and plants, such as giraffes and parrots as well as oak trees, cacti and seaweed.  This is the largest loss of life since the dinosaurs.  

Combined with skyrocketing levels of pollution, the degradation of the natural habitat and biodiversity loss are having serious impacts on communities around the world. As global temperatures rise, once fertile grasslands turn to desert, and in the ocean, there are hundreds of so-called “dead zones”, where scarcely any aquatic life remains.

The loss of biodiversity affects the way an ecosystem functions, leading to species being less able to respond to changes in the environment and making them increasingly vulnerable to natural disasters. If an ecosystem has a wide diversity of organisms, it is likely that they will not all be affected in the same way. For instance, if one species is killed off then a similar species can take its place. 

What is the Biodiversity Plan?

The Plan, officially called the Kunming-Montreal  Global Biodiversity Framework , is a UN-driven landmark agreement adopted by 196 countries to guide global action on nature through to 2030, which was hashed out at meetings in Kunming, China and Montreal, Canada, in 2022.

The aim is to address biodiversity loss, restore ecosystems and protect indigenous rights. Indigenous peoples  suffer disproportionately from loss of biological diversity and environmental degradation. Their lives, survival, development chances, knowledge, environment and health conditions are threatened by environmental degradation, large scale industrial activities, toxic waste, conflicts and forced migration as well as by land-use and land-cover changes such as deforestation for agriculture and extractives.

There are concrete measures to halt and reverse nature loss, including putting 30 per cent of the planet and 30 per cent of degraded ecosystems under protection by 2030. Currently 17 per cent of land and around eight per cent of marine areas are protected. The plan also contains proposals to increase financing to developing countries – a major sticking point during talks – and indigenous peoples.

Countries have to come up with national biodiversity strategies and action plans as well as set or revise national targets to match the ambition of global goals.

What else will the UN do to protect biodiversity this year?

Next month the UN Environment Assembly ( UNEA ), otherwise known as the   “World’s Environment Parliament” will meet at the UN office in Nairobi . The event   brings together governments, civil society groups, the scientific community and the private sector to highlight the most pressing issues and improve global governance of the environment. UNEA 2024 will focus on climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.

However, the main event will be the  UN Biodiversity Conference , which will take place in Colombia in October. Delegates will discuss how to restore lands and seas in a way that protects the planet and respects the rights of local communities.

• biodiversity

• UNESCO's commitment
• Culture and values
• Conservation and sustainable use
• Local, indigenous and scientific knowledge
• Education and awareness
• Ocean Sciences
• UNESCO Biodiversity Portal
• International governance mechanisms
• United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration
• United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development
• Ocean Biodiversity Information System

Conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity

Biodiversity is currently being lost at up to 1,000 times the natural rate. Some scientists are now referring to the crisis as the ‘Earth’s sixth mass extinction’, comparable to the last great extinction crisis 65 million years ago. These extinctions are irreversible and pose a serious threat to our health and wellbeing. Designation and management of protected areas is the cornerstone of biodiversity conservation. However, despite an increase in the total number of protected areas in the world, biodiversity continues to decline.

An integrated landscape approach to conservation planning plays a key role in ensuring suitable habitats for species. However, many protected areas are not functioning as effectively as originally intended, due in part to limited resources to maintain these areas and/or enforce relevant legal frameworks. In addition, current protected area networks may need to be re-aligned to account for climate change. Efforts to preserve biodiversity must take into account not only the physical environment, but also social and economic systems that are well connected to biodiversity and ecosystem services. For protected areas to contribute effectively to a secure future for biodiversity, there is a need for measures to enhance the representativeness of networks, and to improve management effectiveness.

• Growth in protected areas in many countries is helping to maintain options for the future, but sustainable use and management of territory outside protected areas remains a priority.
• Measures to improve environmental status within conservation areas, combined with landscape-scale approaches, are urgently needed if their efficiency is to be improved.
• Lack of adequate technical and financial resources and capacity can limit the upscaling of innovative solutions, demonstrating further the need for regional and subregional co-operation.
• Capacity building is a key factor in the successful avoidance and reduction of land degradation and informed restoration.
• Capacity development needs should be addressed at three levels: national, provincial and local.
• There is a need for capacity building to enable sources outside government to inform relevant departments and policies on biodiversity (e.g. through consultancies, academia and think tanks).

Sites, connected landscapes and networks

Conserving biodiversity and promoting sustainable use.

UNESCO works on the conservation of biodiversity and the sustainable use of its components through UNESCO designated sites, including biosphere reserves , World Heritage sites and UNESCO Global Geoparks . In 2018, UNESCO designated sites protected over 10 million km 2 , an area equivalent to the size of China. These conservation instruments have adopted policies and strategies that aim to conserve these sites, while supporting the broader objectives of sustainable development. One such example is the policy on the integration of a sustainable development perspective into the processes of the World Heritage Convention.

UNESCO is also the depository of the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance . Countless species of plants and animals depend on these delicate habitats for survival.

The first comprehensive assessment of species that live within World Heritage sites reveals just how critical they are to preserving the diversity of life on Earth.

The MAB Programme and the World Network of Biosphere Reserves: connecting landscapes and reconciling conservation with development

Biosphere reserves are designated under UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme and promote solutions reconciling the conservation of biodiversity with its sustainable use at local and regional scales.

This dynamic and interactive network of sites works to foster the harmonious integration of people and nature for sustainable development through participatory dialogue, knowledge sharing, poverty reduction, human wellbeing improvements, respect or cultural values and efforts to improve society’s ability to cope with climate change. Progress has been achieved in connecting landscapes and protected areas through biosphere reserves, however further efforts are needed.

• World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR)
• BIOsphere and Heritage of Lake Chad (BIOPALT)
• Women for Bees - a joint Guerlain and UNESCO programme
• Protecting Great Apes and their habitats
• Ecosystem restoration for sustainable development in Haiti ( Français | Español )
• Green Economy in Biosphere Reserves project in Ghana, Nigeria and Tanzania *
• More activities and projects

and the sustainable use of its components through UNESCO designated sites

Capacity building

Capacity building is needed to provide adequate support to Member States to attain the international biodiversity goals and the SDGs. In some countries, technical, managerial and institutional capacity to define guidelines for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity is inadequate. Additionally, existing institutional and technical capacity is often fragmented and uncoordinated. As new ways of interacting with biodiversity emerge, it is essential that stakeholders are trained and have sufficient capacity to implement new and varied approaches. Further efforts will be needed therefore to facilitate capacity building by fostering learning and leadership skills.

UNESCO is mandated to assist Member States in the design and implementation of national policies on education, culture, science, technology and innovation including biodiversity.

The BIOPALT project: integrated management of ecosystems

More than 30 million people live in the Lake Chad Basin. The site is highly significant in terms of  biodiversity and natural and cultural heritage. The cross-border dimension of the basin also presents opportunities for sub-regional integration. The  BIOsphere and Heritage of Lake Chad (BIOPALT) project focuses on poverty reduction and peace promotion, and aims to strengthen the capacities of the Lake Chad Basin Commission member states to safeguard  and  manage sustainably the water resources, socio-ecosystems and cultural resources of the region.

Women for bees: Women’s empowerment and biodiversity conservation

Women for Bees is a state-of-the-art female beekeeping entrepreneurship programme launched by UNESCO and Guerlain. Implemented in UNESCO designated biosphere reserves around the world with the support of the French training centre, the Observatoire Français d’Apidologie (OFA), the programme has actor, film maker and humanitarian activist Angelina Jolie for a Godmother, helping promote its twin objectives of women’s empowerment and biodiversity conservation.

Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) and capacity development

Capacity development is  present in all areas of IOC ’s work, at the global programme level as well as  within  each of its three sub-commissions and  the IOC-INDIO regional committee. In 2015, IOC adopted its Capacity Development Strategy. IOC is the custodian agency for SDG 14A.

In collaboration with the International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange (IODE) , IOC has implemented a network of Regional Training Centres under the OceanTeacher Global Academy (OTGA) project, which has seven such centres around the world (Belgium, Colombia, India, Kenya, Malaysia, Mozambique and Senegal). Through its network of centres, OTGA provides a  programme of training courses related to IOC programmes, which contribute to the sustainable management of  oceans and coastal areas worldwide. OTGA has developed an e-Learning  Platform that hosts all training  resources for the training courses and makes them freely available to any interested parties.

Since 2012,  270 scientists from 69 countries have been trained to  manage  marine  biodiversity  data,  publish  data  through the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) , and perform scientific data analysis for reporting and assessment. Since 1990, IOC West Pacific Regional Training and  Research  Centres  have  trained  more  than  1,000 people in a variety of topics including: 

• monitoring the ecological impacts of ocean acidification on coral reef ecosystems,
• harmful algal blooms,
• traditional and molecular taxonomy,
• reef health monitoring, and
• seagrass and mangrove ecology and management.

Most courses take place in a face-to-face classroom environment,  however training can also be conducted online using ICTs and the OceanTeacher e-Learning Platform, thereby increasing the number of people reached.

and peace-building through the promotion of green economy and the valorization of the basin's natural resources

Governance and connecting the scales

Governance systems in many countries function as indirect drivers of changes to ecosystems and biodiversity. At present, most policies that address biodiversity are fragmented and target specific. Additionally, the current design of governance, institutions and policies rarely takes into account the diverse values of biodiversity. There are also substantial challenges to the design and implementation of effective transboundary and regional initiatives to halt biodiversity loss, ecosystem degradation, climate change and unsustainable development. Another key challenge to successful policy-making is adequate mobilization of financial resources. Increased funding from both public and private sources, together with innovative financing mechanisms such as ecological fiscal transfers, would help to strengthen institutional capacities.

• Governance options that harness synergies are the best option for achieving the SDGs.
• There is a need to develop engagement and actions with diverse stakeholders in governance through regional cooperation and partnerships with the private sector.  
• Mainstreaming biodiversity into development policies, plans and programmes can improve efforts to achieve both the Aichi Targets and the SDGs.

UNESCO works to engage with new governance schemes at all levels through the LINKS Programme , the MAB Programme , the UNESCO-CBD Joint Programme and integrated management of ecosystems linking local to regional scales.

UNESCO supports the integrated management of ecosystems linking local to regional scales, especially through transboundary biosphere reserves, World Heritage sites and UNESCO Global Geoparks. The governance and management of a biosphere reserve places special emphasis on the crucial role that combined knowledge, learning and capacity building play in creating and sustaining a dynamic and mutually beneficial interactions between the conservation and development objectives at local and regional scales.

A transboundary biosphere reserve is defined by the following elements: a shared ecosystem; a common culture and shared traditions, exchanges and cooperation at local level; the will to manage jointly the territory along the bio-sphere reserve values and principles; a political commitment resulting in an official agreement between governmental authorities of the countries concerned. The transboundary biosphere reserve establishes a coordinating structure representative of various administrations and scientific boards, the authorities in charge of the different areas included the protected areas, the representatives of local communities, private sector, and NGOs. A permanent secretariat and a budget are devoted to its functioning. Focal points for co-operation are designated in each country participating.

Transboundary conservation and cooperation

The Trifinio Fraternidad Transboundary Biosphere Reserve is located between El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. It is the first transboundary biosphere reserve in Central America and represents a major contribution to the implementation of the Mesoamerican Corridor. It includes key biodiversity areas, such as Montecristo National Park and a variety of forest ecosystems.

Trifinio Fraternidad Transboundary Biosphere Reserve (El Salvador/Guatemala/Honduras)

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News from the Columbia Climate School

What You Can Do to Protect Biodiversity

Biodiversity —the variety of all living organisms including ecosystems, plants, animals, their habitats and genes—is fundamental to life on Earth. We need biodiversity for its invaluable ecosystem services, providing oxygen, food, clean water, fertile soil, medicines, shelter, protection from storms and floods, a stable climate and recreation. Tragically, today biodiversity is disappearing at 1,000 times the normal rate due to human civilization. Individual species are being obliterated by habitat loss and degradation, invasive species, the spread of pollution and disease, climate change and the over exploitation of resources. And because the human population, which has doubled since 1970, is expected to reach 9 billion by 2050, the biodiversity crisis will only get worse as more people consume more resources.

What can we as individuals do to help slow the loss of biodiversity?  Since consumption of resources is a root cause of biodiversity loss, we can consume less and be more mindful about what we consume. We need to leverage our purchasing power to help protect biodiversity by consuming products that do not harm the environment. Ecolabels enable consumers to determine which products are green, safe, and environmentally sustainable. But because so many ecolabels have sprung up—in 2010, there were 400 different sustainability certifications available around the world—they can be confusing. Here are some of the most reliable and respected ecolabels to look for.

Green Seal – Established in 1989, Green Seal boasts one of the first environmental certification programs. It uses lifecycle based sustainability standards to certify products, services, and companies that protect the environment and human health. All significant environmental and social impacts are considered, from raw materials extraction through manufacturing to use and disposal. Certified products include cleansers, construction materials, paints, paper, paper towels and tissue, food packaging, and hand soaps. Cleaning services, restaurants and hotels are also certified.

Forest Stewardship Council – The FSC promotes the sustainable management of the world’s forests by ensuring that the harvest of forests for timber and non-timber products maintains a forest’s biodiversity, productivity, and ecological processes, and by respecting the rights of and providing incentives to indigenous people to sustain forest resources. In addition to prohibiting the destruction of natural forests, the FSC safeguards endangered species, and bans toxic pesticides and the planting of genetically modified trees. FSC certified products include lumber, paper, printing, packaging, furniture, and other products made from wood.

LEED – The U.S. Green Building Council provides LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification for buildings or communities designed and built with environmentally sensitive siting, energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, sustainable materials, improved indoor environmental quality, innovative technology and strategies, and stewardship of resources. It looks at the building lifecycle from design and construction to operations and maintenance, and substantial retrofits. LEED certification applies to commercial real estate, residential homes, schools and hospitals, and even the design or retrofit of neighborhoods.

Certified Wildlife Friendly – The Wildlife Friendly Enterprise Network promotes wildlife conservation through certifying products that are linked to conservation actions, and that benefit and involve local individuals and communities living with wildlife. Certified products include alpaca garments, essential oils, chili products, rice, eco-fashion, a community market organization, and a conservation program that helps control bushmeat poaching. Each certified entity is tied to conservation efforts for particular species.

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Good article! The Energy Star labeling system is a very good system of identifying household products that are the most energy efficient. It is a shame that these products are tageted by their manufacturers to give them maximum profit margin, which is clearly putting potential customers off from buying them and this results in customers not gaining anything on a supposed return on investment, even after a lengthy time. Kind regards !

Great article! Yes, there are many things we can do to preserve biodiversity and help our planet. One great way is by finding ways to reduce the energy used to heat and cool our homes.

I never really paid much attention to the labels or the variety of the labels. I do have a sadden heart regarding the Rain Forest. I breaks my heart to hear how much de-forestation takes place everyday. I just wish there was some other way to encourage people not to do this.

I know there are a lot of organizations like the Rainforest Alliance that are doing all they can to help. We just need people to stay engaged and remain proactive when it comes to this wonderful natural resource that is so important to our planet.

Thank you for posting this article. I am sure this will benefit many of your readers as much as it has me.

In my area, people still using plastic bags and non-recycle products. If we can’t educate them to reuse and recycle, we still consume more and more resources. Hope they will realized before the global warming become serious.

in my area we are planting fruit

Environmental pollution is growing year by year and we are responsible for this. So that, it our duty to control the pollution. We have concern about reuse and recycling of the waste products. We should use Eco friendly and recyclable product.

God work, it heiped me alot in my exams. Big up

I think education is at the top with anything like this. People aren’t aware of what biodiversity does to for us, so they just assume it’s a word BUT through effective campaigns via social media the younger generations will engage and they’ll learn far more too about what needs to be done to protect it!

The first thing we must do is do educate our kids and talk to our friends about this problem. We can start using eco friendly cleaning products, food that is from natural farm. Choose the products that are not made with chimicals and other toxic mix for environment.

Biodiversity plays a major role in our lives , but mostly in the lives of rural area,settlers without biodiversity the results are high poverty rate, and dependency, thus it is important for every individual to contribute to help maintain and sustain our biodiversity.

What can be done to mitigate Light glare and light trespass that is expanding with newer infill and development? Nocturnal animals are challenged by thoughtless individuals and developers…..

I have seen a lot of people in most rural areas wherein I thought they are the ones who preserve the environment better than the ones who live in the Urban.Nevertheless, people in the rural places had been burning lots of plastics in a pit and no one could implement a rule stating how dangerous it could affect in our nature.I am determined to help and encourage these people that instead of burning their trashes there are lots of ways to recycle it and use it for the better and a way to protect our biodiversity.

thats good for the enviroment

i can do to protect our biodiversity by being a good and responsible person. I thought in the rural areas they are the ones who takes care the environment than the people in the urban areas. They are burning garbages such as plastics that can affect our ozone layer. If i were them instead of burning wastes, i will think of recycling it to become more useful. And it can be a money for them. I will encourage them that instead of burning it and leave it behind, there is a lot of ways to become more useful like recycle them. And use it for the best and it can be one of the things on how we can protect our biodiversity.

plz share dos and donts to conserve biodiversity

To protect our biodiversity is to conserve natural resources. Like the urban areas they are the one who take care of their environment. While the rural areas are not taking care of their environment. They burn plastics and they dont recycle garbages. Instead of that doing that we need to consume electricity and recycle garbages so that we can help protect biodiversity. We must use products that can not harm the environment.

Also,a stable committee should be set-up that will check some of this companies that are in charge of the things concerning biodiversity. Inorder for them not to use chemicals that are harmful to the environment and contributing to the destruction of biodiversity.

Nice post! It’s really important to teach kids how to care for the environment. We should build up some idea on how both parents and educators can teach kids in a fun way.

i love that you are helping other kids learn about our environment.

if we get rid of to meany forest the animals will die because they have no where to live

if we took over the world how much would animals live in this world

well us for one because we are mammals which are animals

Since there is a rapid growth in the human population. We will just keep on destroying habitats and than there wouldn’t be much biodiversity left.

THE FORESTS ARE GETTING DESTROYED

Yes I agree it’s a good one but I want to know how can technological tools help to prevent or reduce the identified loss of biodiversity?

I agree that there needs to be something do to help our communities and the world not loos biodiversity. I also think that teaching are youth about ways they harm biodiversity and nature is very important.

I pledge to recycle, reuse and make better choices!!

we need more biodiversity because it is the keystone to the planets well being .

We all play a part in protecting biodiversity. Even the little thing can go a long way.

i agree to make the world a better place by recycling

We should stop destroying thousands of species by building apartments in nature. We should stop using unhealthy gas.

The Energy Star labeling system is a very good system of identifying household products that are the most energy efficient. It is a shame that these products are tageted by their manufacturers to give them maximum profit margin, which is clearly putting potential customers off from buying them and this results in customers not gaining anything on a supposed return on investment, even after a lengthy time. Kind regards !

That was a great article! People should start using more recyclable items because all of that trash is sent to the bottom of the ocean.

It is amazing how ecolabels are invented. Before, I didn’t really pay attention to those ecolabels since I didn’t know what are those for. But after reading the article, I realized that it is to protect and maintain our biodiversity. It is really important that we preserve our biodiversity because it is what gives us life. Without it, we won’t be able to live and have these materials that we need to survive.

Well written article!! I really enjoyed the paragraph on rainforest alliance. It saddens me very much that deforestation is such a big and recurring problem. I think we used only used recycled things. Get rid of plastic, and go all recycled paper. I al so think we should stop using trees for paper, and wood products. Dead trees are fine but some people use trees that are alive for their wood, and that needs to stop. They want to take down whole forests of trees, but dont want to take the time to grow one.

I try to not used a lot of technology and used of energy consumption as well as water consumption. Maybe one day when I grow I will make a team that assembles and help protect animals habitat

I love how you mentioned that a great way to conserve biodiversity is to consume less natural resources. I think that it would also be beneficial to invest in a service that’s main focus is to help improve biodiversity in landscapes. Thank you so much for your article about biodiversity, Renee.

1.I can plant more tress

2.Tell others around me why it is important so they will do the same and or help

3.I will give water to the trees

4. I will clean up the surroundings

5.Stop puting pollution and gas everywhere

Our biodiversity is very important and it’s a good thing this blog gives us informative articles. Especially on how we can preserve it. Another great thing about this is we gather information and can be spread by many. This blog is one of the great ways I see to conserve our biodiversity. Lastly, it helps to call out others to be aware about what is happening in our biodiversity.

well structured and thought through the post, I believe, this will serve as a great guide to many in identifying with the support for biodiversity conservation.

I love the artical saying that people realize that we are hurting biodiversity and doing something about it

This an great article to read! I think biodiversity is important because it shows us how we are ruining the land for animals and plants if we could stop knocking down trees and ruining plants and animals homes maybe so many animals wouldn’t be going extinct.

great in bringing a incite to how we can better our foods. i shall try not to pollute any grounds at any costs.

Don’t just go on to leave a thumbs down life is beautiful if we did not have it we would not be here so appropriate your surroundings.

living organisms including ecosystem plant animals thier habitats and genes is fundamental to life and earth we need biodeversity

I`ve always been connected to the biodiversity and nature and I understand the affects of human to earth but as us people we could keep our biodiversity by doing stuff that might help because biodiversity helps us in ways that we need to survive and we should help them too.

This article is very informative. It has really showed that there are many things that help to try to preserve our planet.

great article

it contains a lot of information!

I agree to feed the animal with organic foods.

The Marine Stewardship council is a good organisation because its stopping fish species from dieing out by making a limit to fishing its will help fish and coral reefs from bottom fishing.

Great article

the way we can make a change is by not taking up homes of animals and polluting earth

Good article i love how the author gave multiple points and you backed it up with stats and i agree that we should be more involved in trying to help our planet

Interesting article! One way humans have affected biodiversity is by their population and by the use of land.

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Biodiversity and Its Conservation: Importance, Threats, Strategies

• Editor Desk
• June 15, 2023
• Biodiversity

Biodiversity , the variety of life on Earth, encompasses all forms of living organisms, including plants, animals, and microorganisms. It is the result of billions of years of evolution and plays a vital role in maintaining the health and balance of ecosystems. However, due to various human activities, biodiversity is facing unprecedented threats, making its conservation crucial for the survival of species and the sustainability of our planet. In this article, we will explore the significance of biodiversity, the current threats it faces, and the strategies and approaches employed in its conservation.

I. Importance of Biodiversity

Biodiversity is essential for the functioning of ecosystems and provides numerous benefits to humanity. It ensures ecological balance by regulating various ecological processes, such as nutrient cycling, water purification, and pollination. Biodiversity also contributes to the production of food, medicines, and raw materials, and supports cultural and aesthetic values. Furthermore, it enhances resilience to environmental changes and helps mitigate the impacts of climate change .

II. Threats to Biodiversity

• Habitat Loss: The destruction, fragmentation, and degradation of habitats due to deforestation, urbanization, and land conversion for agriculture and infrastructure development.
• Climate Change: Rising temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, and extreme weather events disrupt ecosystems, altering species’ distribution and abundance.
• Invasive Species: Non-native species introduced to new environments can outcompete native species, leading to their decline or extinction.
• Pollution: Pollution from various sources, such as industrial activities and agricultural runoff, can contaminate ecosystems, affecting biodiversity.
• Overexploitation: Unsustainable hunting, fishing, and harvesting practices can deplete populations of species, driving them towards extinction.

III. Conservation Strategies

• Protected Areas: Establishing and effectively managing protected areas, such as national parks and wildlife reserves, to safeguard habitats and species.
• Habitat Restoration: Rehabilitating degraded ecosystems by reforesting, wetland restoration, and implementing sustainable land management practices.
• Species Conservation: Implementing measures like captive breeding, habitat protection, and anti-poaching efforts to safeguard endangered species.
• Sustainable Practices: Encouraging sustainable agriculture, fisheries, forestry, and promoting responsible consumption to minimize negative impacts on biodiversity.
• Awareness and Education: Raising public awareness about the value of biodiversity and the need for its conservation through education and outreach programs.

Key Takeaways:

Conserving biodiversity is vital for sustaining life on Earth and ensuring a healthy and prosperous future. By understanding the importance of biodiversity, identifying the threats it faces, and implementing effective conservation strategies, we can work towards preserving our natural heritage and creating a more sustainable planet. It requires collective efforts from individuals, communities, governments, and international organizations to protect and restore biodiversity for the benefit of current and future generations. Let us embrace our responsibility as custodians of Earth’s biodiversity and take action to secure a thriving and diverse planet.

FAQs about Biodiversity and its Conservation:

What is biodiversity.

Biodiversity refers to the variety of life on Earth, including all living organisms, from plants and animals to microorganisms. It encompasses genetic, species, and ecosystem diversity.

Why is biodiversity important?

Biodiversity is crucial for the health and balance of ecosystems. It provides various ecosystem services like nutrient cycling, pollination, and water purification. Biodiversity also contributes to food production , medicine development, and supports cultural and aesthetic values.

What are the main threats to biodiversity?

The main threats to biodiversity include habitat loss due to deforestation and land conversion, climate change, invasive species, pollution, and overexploitation of natural resources.

What are protected areas?

Protected areas are designated regions, such as national parks, wildlife reserves, and marine sanctuaries, created to conserve biodiversity and preserve natural habitats. They often have legal protections to limit human activities that could harm the environment .

What is habitat restoration?

Habitat restoration involves the process of rehabilitating degraded ecosystems by restoring their natural features and functions. It may include activities like reforestation, wetland restoration, and implementing sustainable land management practices.

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We Need Urgent Action to Protect Biodiversity

By Monica Dean and Lindsay Filgas on August 5, 2020

We can’t live without nature’s help; and nature can’t live without our help. We must protect our planet’s biodiversity to safeguard the future of our ecosystems, our climate, our health — and our humanity. In this special series, the UN Foundation takes a closer look at why and how to protect nature, and we meet some of the people on the frontlines of the fight .

Earth is the only planet in the universe known to host life, from huge blue whales and redwood trees to tiny bacteria and fungi. The variety of plants, animals, and microbes — the world’s biodiversity — is so immense that thousands of species are still being discovered every year.

Human well-being is intimately tied to the well-being of these species, but as societies have become increasingly industrialized, our relationship with nature has changed. Climate change and growing demand for timber, food, and water have put severe stress on biodiversity and the health of natural ecosystems. We are destroying our planet at an unprecedented rate, with hundreds of species going extinct each year.

To address this rising global challenge, this fall world leaders will participate in the virtual United Nations Summit on Biodiversity to support urgent action on the crisis while advancing sustainable development. At the summit leaders have an opportunity to build an ambitious, global response and set the stage for new international commitments on biodiversity conservation that will be set in 2021 at a meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity, the main forum for nations to work together to protect the only known life in the universe. “International cooperation is vital to protecting biodiversity and conservation of natural resources,” said Tom Lovejoy, UN Foundation senior fellow, and known as the “Godfather of Biodiversity.” “Restoring and protecting biodiversity is critical for both planetary and human health.

Biodiversity is Essential for our Planet, our Climate, our Health

Urgent global action on biodiversity is critical. A year ago, a report by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) found that 1 million species are at risk of extinction — more than ever before in human history. Many other challenges facing biodiversity have caused this growing crisis.

Here are five reasons we need urgent action on biodiversity:

1. Biodiversity is already suffering from human actions. The extinction rate today is 10 to 100 times higher than the past 10 million years. Every animal and plant has a unique, essential role in nature. Each species extinction is like removing a brick from a tower — as more pressure is put on the other bricks, the risk of total collapse increases. Acting now to preserve biodiversity boosts the resiliency of ecosystems to other harms, including climate change.

2. Biodiversity and human health are deeply interconnected. The destruction of natural habitats leads to greater interaction between humans and animals. Biodiversity creates a barrier between humans and dangerous diseases such as COVID-19. In a recent IPBES podcast, Dr. Peter Daszak, a zoologist, explained that most pandemics are linked to wildlife and human-caused environmental change, such as deforestation and wildlife trade. A recent report shows that the cost of protecting biodiversity is orders of magnitude less than the fallout from pandemics such as COVID-19. But the benefits of protecting nature don’t stop at reducing disease. Biodiversity also provides us with food, safe water, and medicine, and it has positive impacts on mental health, from inspiration to preserving cultural practices to enabling recreation.

3. Biodiversity is an essential tool in fighting the climate crisis. Land and ocean ecosystems are currently the only way we have of trapping large amounts of carbon dioxide, and together they absorb 60% of human-caused emissions. Protecting our diverse ecosystems is critical to meeting our climate goals. Not only does biodiversity loss drive climate change, but as the climate changes, biodiversity faces a substantial risk. If we act now, biodiversity can be part of the climate solution. In fact, nature-based solutions — climate strategies with co-benefits for biodiversity — have the potential to provide more than a third of the necessary emissions reductions needed by 2030 to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement.

A native Dayak Iban man in Indonesia collects Entibab palm to eat. Photo: If Not Us Then Who?/ Kynan Tegar

4. Biodiversity loss disproportionately affects poor and Indigenous communities. Because many of these communities rely heavily on biodiversity for food, livelihoods, and health, declines in biodiversity have a more severe impact on them, and in fact they are already experiencing this loss. A quarter of the land on Earth — representing a significant amount of the world’s biodiversity — is home to Indigenous people. For thousands of years they have stewarded our planet’s wild places. Not only is protecting their ways of life important, but their traditional knowledge also can help to protect biodiversity. If we take action now, we can protect biodiversity, lift up marginalized communities, and make progress against inequality and poverty.

5. Sustainable development relies on biodiversity. A majority of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are threatened by declines in biodiversity and ecosystem functions. From hunger and water, to gender and equity, achieving our global goals requires the protection and restoration of ecosystems, as well as the sustainable and equitable use of biodiversity. As 2020 marks the end of the UN Decade on Biodiversity and the start of the Decade of Action and Delivery for Sustainable Development, it’s critical that we strengthen the ties that connect the two.

What We Can Do to Preserve and Protect Biodiversity

At the core of protecting biodiversity is the recognition that it intersects with and underpins all aspects of human well-being and development. Biodiversity exemplifies the deep interconnectedness of the Earth’s systems and reminds us that no SDG can be accomplished in isolation.

The need for urgent action is clear. The coming year is critical for governments to take decisive action on biodiversity, starting with commitments at the UN Summit on Biodiversity in September and continuing through May 2021, when countries will meet to approve a new set of targets, the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.

However, government commitments alone will not be enough. Individual actions — from avoiding plastic pollution to supporting sustainable agriculture — can help protect biodiversity and be part of a global transition to a more sustainable world. Each species, including humans, plays a role on our planet, and it’s our job to act now to preserve the health of all species, including our own.

The UN Foundation has partnered with Indigenous photographers from  If Not Us Then Who? to tell stories of their respective communities and share the importance of biodiversity. See more work from Edgar  and Kynan  on Instagram and be sure to follow.

Featured photo and parallax photos: If Not UsThen Who?/ Edgar Kanayko

Lindsay Filgas is the UN Foundation Schneider Fellow for Climate

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Biodiversity 101: Why it matters and how to protect it

• May 21, 2020

The Earth is undergoing a mass extinction that could see up to a million species disappear in the coming decades – and humans are contributing heavily to this.

The numbers are staggering: the population sizes of vertebrate species, which include mammals, reptiles, birds and fish, dropped by around half between 1970 and 2010 . A quarter of mammals, 40 percent of amphibians, and 30 percent of sharks and rays are currently endangered .

During the 20th century, extinction rates were about 100 times higher than they would have been without humans significantly altering most of the planet’s surface .

What does this loss of biodiversity mean for the future of the planet and its inhabitants – and what can we do about it? The first step is understanding the basics, unraveled in easy-to-digest terms here in this explainer:

What is biodiversity?

How is biodiversity measured, what are the benefits of biodiversity, what are the main threats to biodiversity, how can we protect biodiversity.

Coined by biologists in the 1980s as a contraction of biological diversity , the term usually refers to the variety of life on Earth as a whole . The U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) breaks it down as follows :

“Biological diversity” means the variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part.

But the CBD makes it clear that measuring biodiversity is no simple feat:

This includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems.

Let’s start with biodiversity between species, or species diversity . Arguably the simplest measure is ‘species richness’ – a count of how many species live in a community.

But species richness does not consider the relative abundance of each species, or its importance to an ecosystem or landscape, or its value to people. As such, biologists have invented diversity indices, such as the Simpson index and the Shannon index , to take these factors into account.

When talking about biodiversity loss, we often focus on losses in species diversity, as it is crucial to maintain the balance of ecosystems, nutritional value of food, and enhance resilience of ecosystems and landscapes to the threats of climate change and other risks like weeds and pests.

Yet genetic diversity – the characteristics of a species’ genetic makeup – is equally important, as it ensures resilience to change and stressors on a more individual level.

Consider the following analogy: in investing, a diversified portfolio minimizes risk and usually provides the most reliable returns. Likewise, genetic diversity protects a species from being wiped out by an external shock like a natural disaster or disease outbreak.

At the largest scale is the concept of ecosystem diversity , which measures how many different ecosystems exist within a geographical area or wider landscape. The more ecosystems exist within a landscape, the more resilient that landscape is, and the more services it has to offer its inhabitants. 

These include wetlands , which contain over 40 percent of the value of the world’s ecosystems ; peatlands , which store a third of the planet’s soil carbon; and lesser-known tropical forests such as monsoon and karst forests , which are among our best natural defenses against climate change.

You might have also heard of ‘biodiversity hotspots.’ These are landscapes with exceptionally high concentrations of biodiversity. 43 percent of bird, mammal, reptile and amphibian species are only found in areas that make up just 2.4 percent of the Earth’s surface .

Healthy and functional ecosystems play a crucial role in sustaining human livelihoods through providing necessities and benefits such as food, water, energy sources and carbon sequestration, known as ‘ecosystem services.’

One study estimates that each year, the goods and services provided by the planet’s ecosystems contribute over USD 100 trillion to the global economy , more than double the world’s gross domestic product (GDP). But much debate remains over how to factor in non-monetary values, such as natural beauty, regulating functions, and providing homes for humans and animals.

Underpinning ecosystem services are genetic diversity and biodiversity. Genetic diversity supports agriculture by building resilience and protecting against environmental stresses such as pests, crop diseases and natural disasters . This provides a source of income and safeguards the food security of much of the world’s poor.

Biodiversity also plays a role in some ‘ nature-based solutions ’ to climate change and problems caused by changes in the environment. These solutions could provide up to a third of the carbon emissions reductions needed to meet the Paris Agreement goals .

Including biodiversity in nature-based solutions, though, must be a conscious choice. Tree planting , for instance, can come in the form of monocultures (planting just a single species in a landscape) or agroforestry, which mixes species of agricultural crops and trees in a single landscape to enhance the sustainability of both.

While each of these cases offers a different set of financial and environmental benefits, most experts will sing the praises of nature-based solutions that take into account biodiversity over those that don’t.

And, let us not forget: the planet’s various ecosystems and landscapes also hold considerable intrinsic value to humans, whether for their recreational opportunities, their cultural importance to Indigenous communities , or their contributions to physical and mental health . Without biodiversity, these values will be lost.

In a seminal report published last year, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) identified five direct drivers of biodiversity loss: changes in land and sea use, overexploitation, climate change, pollution, and invasive species.

These five drivers, it argues , are in turn driven by increasing demand for natural resources, as well as governance structures that prioritize economic growth over conservation and restoration.

Land and sea use

The most widespread form of land-use change has been the expansion of agriculture : according to the IPBES report, over a third of the Earth’s land surface is now used for cropping or livestock, mainly at the expense of forests , wetlands and grasslands.

The tropics , which are home to the highest levels of biodiversity on Earth, are now seeing their ecosystems replaced by cattle ranching in Latin America and plantations in Southeast Asia .

Other key land-use changes include logging, mining and urbanization. Coastal and marine ecosystems have also been significantly affected by activities such as offshore aquaculture, bottom trawling, coastal development and ocean mining .

Overexploitation

The IPBES suggests that fishing has had a larger impact on marine ecosystems than any other human activity: 33 percent of marine fish stocks are currently overfished, and 60 percent are being fished to their sustainable limits. Poaching and hunting , too, are driving many mammals to the brink of extinction.

Climate change

Humans have caused the planet to warm by around 1 degree Celsius since pre-industrial times – and biodiversity is already bearing the brunt of that warming. Climate change is reducing the distribution of many species (the geographical area in which they can survive), including almost half of all endangered mammals.

Changes in the ecological balance can also result in species that can beneficial turning into pests and plagues once their natural enemies are reduced or disappear: think locusts, mosquitos, algae.

Many plants and animals are also experiencing disruptions to their phenology , which refers to seasonal life cycle events such as flowering, migration and hibernation.

Mining, agriculture, industry and other pervasive changes in human’s land-use are contributing to air, water and soil pollution. The IPBES notes that coastal waters contain the highest levels of metals and organic pollutants, such as industrial discharge and fertilizers.

Similarly, marine plastic pollution has increased tenfold since 1980, primarily affecting marine turtles, seabirds and marine mammals, as well as humans indirectly through the food chain.

Invasive species

An invasive alien species is a species that has been introduced to a new location and starts to disrupt its new habitat. These species can threaten native biodiversity by out-competing them for resources, and they’re spreading ever more quickly as international travel and trade expands. A recent study found that one-sixth of the Earth’s land surface is highly vulnerable to invasion , including many biodiversity hotspots.

Humanity’s ecological footprint is about 70 percent larger than the planet can sustain – and in the world’s richest countries, that figure is as much as four or five times larger. Given these huge inequalities in both living standards and ecological impact, residents of industrialized nations can – and should – do their part to preserve biodiversity by helping contribute to more sustainable global systems.

At the individual level, that could include reducing air travel, buying organic , eating less red meat, avoiding fast fashion , and turning your backyard into a carbon sink .

At the international and policy level , we need commitments to restore the Earth’s ecosystems , following the examples set by the Everglades and farmers in the African Sahel .

Indigenous and local communities are deep and rich sources of traditional knowledge of how best to care for increasingly fragile landscapes. Technological innovation is a crucial tool too.

And with biodiversity worth more in monetary terms than the entire global economy , there’s a clear business case to be made for investing in restoring the planet .

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What can we do to protect biodiversity?

Loss of natural habitats has been taking place over thousands of years, but scientists are confident that we have ways to help biodiversity recover. Global efforts so far have been insufficient. We must produce food much more efficiently using less land and with less waste. We must also change how and where we urbanise and industrialise landscape and the ocean, and how we produce energy. Paying more attention to the multiple values of nature, including placing a financial value on nature, might also help us to avoid losing more biodiversity.

The world’s nations could improve the situation at the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity Fifteenth Conference of the Parties (COP15) to be held in Kunming, China. Ours is the first generation that understands in detail the damage that it is causing to biodiversity – and the last with the time to make a difference.

Growing populations and the even faster growing rates of consumption are a major threat to biodiversity. Half of the Earth’s ice free and otherwise habitable land is now occupied by cropland and pastures, and it is estimated that half of the species at risk are threatened by agriculture. We need new ways of farming, using land for different purposes. Exactly how we do that is currently much debated.

Deforestation, often linked to agriculture, is also a major problem, bringing about the destruction of habitats. It is essential to protect forests. A growing threat is climate change, which is both driven by and drives biodiversity loss. Reducing emissions and absorbing carbon will be an essential route to reducing biodiversity loss. Nature-based solutions for climate change include methods which could enhance biodiversity at the same time as tackling climate change.

We will also need new ways to value and account for nature that put a price on its destruction so that we take this into account when assessing the overall cost and value of what we produce. We also need a global monitoring network that allows us to hold countries to account for failures to tackle biodiversity loss.

And finally, we need to do more to support the Indigenous peoples and local communities on whose land biodiversity is thriving, but who are struggling to protect it against the pressures of external developers and extractive industries. Strengthening their land rights will help protect them as well as protecting biodiversity.

To find out more; Preserving global biodiversity requires rapid agricultural improvements | Royal Society ; Plural valuation of nature matters for environmental sustainability and justice | Royal Society ; The economics of biodiversity: The Dasgupta Review | Royal Society

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Biodiversity Essay

Broadly speaking, biodiversity, also known as biological diversity, refers to various types of plants and animals on Earth. The process of continuous biodiversity conservation is essential right now. A greater level of biodiversity is necessary to maintain the harmony of the natural environment. Here are a few sample essays on biodiversity.

100 Words Essay On Biodiversity

200 words essay on biodiversity, 500 words essay on biodiversity.

The term "biodiversity" is used to describe the variety of plants, animals, and other species found in an environment. All of them have a significant impact on preserving the planet's healthy ecosystem. In order to sustain the health of the ecosystem and human life, it is critical to maintain a high degree of biodiversity.

However, maintaining biodiversity is getting more challenging due to the increasing air, water, and land pollution on our planet. A number of plant and animal species have gone extinct as a result of the quick environmental changes brought on by the aforementioned causes of biodiversity loss.

By encouraging individuals to adopt more environmentally friendly behaviours and practises and to build a more peaceful and sympathetic relationship with the environment, it is possible to preserve biodiversity.

‘Bio’, which stands for life, and ‘diversity’, which means variety, make up the phrase "biodiversity." The diversity of life on Earth is referred to as biodiversity. Living species include all types of plants, animals, microorganisms, and fungus.

Benefits Of Biodiversity

Community engagement to protect biodiversity is crucial. Biodiversity has several economic advantages.

Many parts of the world benefit economically from biodiversity. The tourism and recreation industries are facilitated by biodiversity. National Parks and Natural Reserves gain a lot from it.

The best locations for ecotourism, photography, art, cinematography, and literary works are in forests, animal reserves, and sanctuaries.

Biodiversity is essential for maintaining the gaseous composition of the atmosphere, breaking down waste, and removing contaminants.

Biodiversity helps in improving soil quality.

Types Of Biodiversity

Genetic Biodiversity | Genetic diversity refers to the variance in genes and genotypes within a species, such as how each individual human differs from the others in appearance.

Species Biodiversity | The variety of species found in a habitat or an area is known as species diversity. It is the diversity of life that is seen in a community. Ecosystem Biodiversity | The diversity of plant and animal species that coexist and are linked by food webs and food chains is referred to as ecological biodiversity.

The biological diversity of many plants and animals is essential to everything. However, biodiversity is declining daily for a number of causes. Our planet could no longer be a place to live if it doesn't stop. Thus, several strategies help in boosting the earth's biodiversity. The three main threats to biodiversity today are habitat loss, hunting, and poaching. At an alarming rate, humans are destroying forests, grasslands, reefs and other natural areas.

Hundreds of species that live in these habitats are therefore vanishing every year. Due to population decline caused by illegal hunting and poaching, several species are put under even more stress.

Importance Of Biodiversity

Maintaining biodiversity is crucial for the health of the ecological system. Many species of plants and animals are dependent on each other. As a result, if one becomes extinct, the others will begin to become vulnerable. Additionally, as both plants and animals are necessary for human existence, it is crucial for us as well. For instance, in order to exist, humans require food, which we obtain from plants. We cannot produce any crops if the soil does not provide a conducive climate. As a result, we won't be able to live sustainably on this planet.

Biodiversity in both flora and fauna is essential today. Therefore, to prevent the decrease in species in danger, we need to implement a number of interventions. Furthermore, vehicle pollution should decrease. So that both humans and animals can get fresh air to breathe. Moreover, it will also decrease global warming which is the major cause of the extinction of the species.

How To Preserve Biodiversity

The basic goal of biodiversity conservation is to protect life on earth, all species, the ecosystem, and a healthy environment for all time so that it will continue to be healthy for future generations. The maintenance of the food chain, the provision of a healthy habitat for many animals, including people, and the promotion of our sustainable development all depend heavily on biodiversity conservation.

Here are some ways you can preserve biodiversity:

Set Up Gardens | The simplest approach to increase biodiversity is to build gardens inside of homes. In the yard or even on the balcony, you may grow a variety of plants. Additionally, this would contribute to bringing in more fresh air within the house.

Plant Local Flowers, Fruits And Vegetables | Plant a variety in your backyard or a hanging garden using the native plants, fruits, and vegetables of your region. Nurseries are excellent places to learn about caring for and preserving plants.

3 R’s | Reduce your consumption, reuse what you can, recycle before throwing away.

Since humans consume the majority of biodiversity resources, it is primarily their duty to maintain and safeguard biodiversity in order to save the environment. The diversity of species, the health of the ecosystem, the state of the environment, and the continued viability of life on earth are crucial. By maintaining and safeguarding species, ecosystems, and natural resources, biodiversity conservation can be achieved for the sustainability of a healthy planet. Some rare species can be saved with the help of law enforcement.

All living species are interconnected and can be negatively impacted by one disturbance and therefore maintaining biodiversity is crucial for human survival. Inadequate biodiversity protection puts human life, as well as the lives of plants, animals, and the environment, at danger. As a result, we must make every effort to preserve our biodiversity.

Explore Career Options (By Industry)

• Construction
• Entertainment
• Manufacturing
• Information Technology

Data Administrator

Database professionals use software to store and organise data such as financial information, and customer shipping records. Individuals who opt for a career as data administrators ensure that data is available for users and secured from unauthorised sales. DB administrators may work in various types of industries. It may involve computer systems design, service firms, insurance companies, banks and hospitals.

Bio Medical Engineer

The field of biomedical engineering opens up a universe of expert chances. An Individual in the biomedical engineering career path work in the field of engineering as well as medicine, in order to find out solutions to common problems of the two fields. The biomedical engineering job opportunities are to collaborate with doctors and researchers to develop medical systems, equipment, or devices that can solve clinical problems. Here we will be discussing jobs after biomedical engineering, how to get a job in biomedical engineering, biomedical engineering scope, and salary. 

Ethical Hacker

A career as ethical hacker involves various challenges and provides lucrative opportunities in the digital era where every giant business and startup owns its cyberspace on the world wide web. Individuals in the ethical hacker career path try to find the vulnerabilities in the cyber system to get its authority. If he or she succeeds in it then he or she gets its illegal authority. Individuals in the ethical hacker career path then steal information or delete the file that could affect the business, functioning, or services of the organization.

GIS officer work on various GIS software to conduct a study and gather spatial and non-spatial information. GIS experts update the GIS data and maintain it. The databases include aerial or satellite imagery, latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates, and manually digitized images of maps. In a career as GIS expert, one is responsible for creating online and mobile maps.

Data Analyst

The invention of the database has given fresh breath to the people involved in the data analytics career path. Analysis refers to splitting up a whole into its individual components for individual analysis. Data analysis is a method through which raw data are processed and transformed into information that would be beneficial for user strategic thinking.

Data are collected and examined to respond to questions, evaluate hypotheses or contradict theories. It is a tool for analyzing, transforming, modeling, and arranging data with useful knowledge, to assist in decision-making and methods, encompassing various strategies, and is used in different fields of business, research, and social science.

Geothermal Engineer

Individuals who opt for a career as geothermal engineers are the professionals involved in the processing of geothermal energy. The responsibilities of geothermal engineers may vary depending on the workplace location. Those who work in fields design facilities to process and distribute geothermal energy. They oversee the functioning of machinery used in the field.

Database Architect

If you are intrigued by the programming world and are interested in developing communications networks then a career as database architect may be a good option for you. Data architect roles and responsibilities include building design models for data communication networks. Wide Area Networks (WANs), local area networks (LANs), and intranets are included in the database networks. It is expected that database architects will have in-depth knowledge of a company's business to develop a network to fulfil the requirements of the organisation. Stay tuned as we look at the larger picture and give you more information on what is db architecture, why you should pursue database architecture, what to expect from such a degree and what your job opportunities will be after graduation. Here, we will be discussing how to become a data architect. Students can visit NIT Trichy , IIT Kharagpur , JMI New Delhi . 

Remote Sensing Technician

Individuals who opt for a career as a remote sensing technician possess unique personalities. Remote sensing analysts seem to be rational human beings, they are strong, independent, persistent, sincere, realistic and resourceful. Some of them are analytical as well, which means they are intelligent, introspective and inquisitive. 

Remote sensing scientists use remote sensing technology to support scientists in fields such as community planning, flight planning or the management of natural resources. Analysing data collected from aircraft, satellites or ground-based platforms using statistical analysis software, image analysis software or Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is a significant part of their work. Do you want to learn how to become remote sensing technician? There's no need to be concerned; we've devised a simple remote sensing technician career path for you. Scroll through the pages and read.

Budget Analyst

Budget analysis, in a nutshell, entails thoroughly analyzing the details of a financial budget. The budget analysis aims to better understand and manage revenue. Budget analysts assist in the achievement of financial targets, the preservation of profitability, and the pursuit of long-term growth for a business. Budget analysts generally have a bachelor's degree in accounting, finance, economics, or a closely related field. Knowledge of Financial Management is of prime importance in this career.

Underwriter

An underwriter is a person who assesses and evaluates the risk of insurance in his or her field like mortgage, loan, health policy, investment, and so on and so forth. The underwriter career path does involve risks as analysing the risks means finding out if there is a way for the insurance underwriter jobs to recover the money from its clients. If the risk turns out to be too much for the company then in the future it is an underwriter who will be held accountable for it. Therefore, one must carry out his or her job with a lot of attention and diligence.

Finance Executive

Product manager.

A Product Manager is a professional responsible for product planning and marketing. He or she manages the product throughout the Product Life Cycle, gathering and prioritising the product. A product manager job description includes defining the product vision and working closely with team members of other departments to deliver winning products.  

Operations Manager

Individuals in the operations manager jobs are responsible for ensuring the efficiency of each department to acquire its optimal goal. They plan the use of resources and distribution of materials. The operations manager's job description includes managing budgets, negotiating contracts, and performing administrative tasks.

Stock Analyst

Individuals who opt for a career as a stock analyst examine the company's investments makes decisions and keep track of financial securities. The nature of such investments will differ from one business to the next. Individuals in the stock analyst career use data mining to forecast a company's profits and revenues, advise clients on whether to buy or sell, participate in seminars, and discussing financial matters with executives and evaluate annual reports.

A Researcher is a professional who is responsible for collecting data and information by reviewing the literature and conducting experiments and surveys. He or she uses various methodological processes to provide accurate data and information that is utilised by academicians and other industry professionals. Here, we will discuss what is a researcher, the researcher's salary, types of researchers.

Welding Engineer

Welding Engineer Job Description: A Welding Engineer work involves managing welding projects and supervising welding teams. He or she is responsible for reviewing welding procedures, processes and documentation. A career as Welding Engineer involves conducting failure analyses and causes on welding issues. 

Transportation Planner

A career as Transportation Planner requires technical application of science and technology in engineering, particularly the concepts, equipment and technologies involved in the production of products and services. In fields like land use, infrastructure review, ecological standards and street design, he or she considers issues of health, environment and performance. A Transportation Planner assigns resources for implementing and designing programmes. He or she is responsible for assessing needs, preparing plans and forecasts and compliance with regulations.

Environmental Engineer

Individuals who opt for a career as an environmental engineer are construction professionals who utilise the skills and knowledge of biology, soil science, chemistry and the concept of engineering to design and develop projects that serve as solutions to various environmental problems. 

Safety Manager

A Safety Manager is a professional responsible for employee’s safety at work. He or she plans, implements and oversees the company’s employee safety. A Safety Manager ensures compliance and adherence to Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) guidelines.

Conservation Architect

A Conservation Architect is a professional responsible for conserving and restoring buildings or monuments having a historic value. He or she applies techniques to document and stabilise the object’s state without any further damage. A Conservation Architect restores the monuments and heritage buildings to bring them back to their original state.

Structural Engineer

A Structural Engineer designs buildings, bridges, and other related structures. He or she analyzes the structures and makes sure the structures are strong enough to be used by the people. A career as a Structural Engineer requires working in the construction process. It comes under the civil engineering discipline. A Structure Engineer creates structural models with the help of computer-aided design software. 

Highway Engineer

Highway Engineer Job Description:  A Highway Engineer is a civil engineer who specialises in planning and building thousands of miles of roads that support connectivity and allow transportation across the country. He or she ensures that traffic management schemes are effectively planned concerning economic sustainability and successful implementation.

Field Surveyor

Are you searching for a Field Surveyor Job Description? A Field Surveyor is a professional responsible for conducting field surveys for various places or geographical conditions. He or she collects the required data and information as per the instructions given by senior officials. 

Orthotist and Prosthetist

Orthotists and Prosthetists are professionals who provide aid to patients with disabilities. They fix them to artificial limbs (prosthetics) and help them to regain stability. There are times when people lose their limbs in an accident. In some other occasions, they are born without a limb or orthopaedic impairment. Orthotists and prosthetists play a crucial role in their lives with fixing them to assistive devices and provide mobility.

Pathologist

A career in pathology in India is filled with several responsibilities as it is a medical branch and affects human lives. The demand for pathologists has been increasing over the past few years as people are getting more aware of different diseases. Not only that, but an increase in population and lifestyle changes have also contributed to the increase in a pathologist’s demand. The pathology careers provide an extremely huge number of opportunities and if you want to be a part of the medical field you can consider being a pathologist. If you want to know more about a career in pathology in India then continue reading this article.

Veterinary Doctor

Speech therapist, gynaecologist.

Gynaecology can be defined as the study of the female body. The job outlook for gynaecology is excellent since there is evergreen demand for one because of their responsibility of dealing with not only women’s health but also fertility and pregnancy issues. Although most women prefer to have a women obstetrician gynaecologist as their doctor, men also explore a career as a gynaecologist and there are ample amounts of male doctors in the field who are gynaecologists and aid women during delivery and childbirth. 

Audiologist

The audiologist career involves audiology professionals who are responsible to treat hearing loss and proactively preventing the relevant damage. Individuals who opt for a career as an audiologist use various testing strategies with the aim to determine if someone has a normal sensitivity to sounds or not. After the identification of hearing loss, a hearing doctor is required to determine which sections of the hearing are affected, to what extent they are affected, and where the wound causing the hearing loss is found. As soon as the hearing loss is identified, the patients are provided with recommendations for interventions and rehabilitation such as hearing aids, cochlear implants, and appropriate medical referrals. While audiology is a branch of science that studies and researches hearing, balance, and related disorders.

An oncologist is a specialised doctor responsible for providing medical care to patients diagnosed with cancer. He or she uses several therapies to control the cancer and its effect on the human body such as chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiation therapy and biopsy. An oncologist designs a treatment plan based on a pathology report after diagnosing the type of cancer and where it is spreading inside the body.

Are you searching for an ‘Anatomist job description’? An Anatomist is a research professional who applies the laws of biological science to determine the ability of bodies of various living organisms including animals and humans to regenerate the damaged or destroyed organs. If you want to know what does an anatomist do, then read the entire article, where we will answer all your questions.

For an individual who opts for a career as an actor, the primary responsibility is to completely speak to the character he or she is playing and to persuade the crowd that the character is genuine by connecting with them and bringing them into the story. This applies to significant roles and littler parts, as all roles join to make an effective creation. Here in this article, we will discuss how to become an actor in India, actor exams, actor salary in India, and actor jobs. 

Individuals who opt for a career as acrobats create and direct original routines for themselves, in addition to developing interpretations of existing routines. The work of circus acrobats can be seen in a variety of performance settings, including circus, reality shows, sports events like the Olympics, movies and commercials. Individuals who opt for a career as acrobats must be prepared to face rejections and intermittent periods of work. The creativity of acrobats may extend to other aspects of the performance. For example, acrobats in the circus may work with gym trainers, celebrities or collaborate with other professionals to enhance such performance elements as costume and or maybe at the teaching end of the career.

Video Game Designer

Career as a video game designer is filled with excitement as well as responsibilities. A video game designer is someone who is involved in the process of creating a game from day one. He or she is responsible for fulfilling duties like designing the character of the game, the several levels involved, plot, art and similar other elements. Individuals who opt for a career as a video game designer may also write the codes for the game using different programming languages.

Depending on the video game designer job description and experience they may also have to lead a team and do the early testing of the game in order to suggest changes and find loopholes.

Radio Jockey

Radio Jockey is an exciting, promising career and a great challenge for music lovers. If you are really interested in a career as radio jockey, then it is very important for an RJ to have an automatic, fun, and friendly personality. If you want to get a job done in this field, a strong command of the language and a good voice are always good things. Apart from this, in order to be a good radio jockey, you will also listen to good radio jockeys so that you can understand their style and later make your own by practicing.

A career as radio jockey has a lot to offer to deserving candidates. If you want to know more about a career as radio jockey, and how to become a radio jockey then continue reading the article.

Choreographer

The word “choreography" actually comes from Greek words that mean “dance writing." Individuals who opt for a career as a choreographer create and direct original dances, in addition to developing interpretations of existing dances. A Choreographer dances and utilises his or her creativity in other aspects of dance performance. For example, he or she may work with the music director to select music or collaborate with other famous choreographers to enhance such performance elements as lighting, costume and set design.

Social Media Manager

A career as social media manager involves implementing the company’s or brand’s marketing plan across all social media channels. Social media managers help in building or improving a brand’s or a company’s website traffic, build brand awareness, create and implement marketing and brand strategy. Social media managers are key to important social communication as well.

Photographer

Photography is considered both a science and an art, an artistic means of expression in which the camera replaces the pen. In a career as a photographer, an individual is hired to capture the moments of public and private events, such as press conferences or weddings, or may also work inside a studio, where people go to get their picture clicked. Photography is divided into many streams each generating numerous career opportunities in photography. With the boom in advertising, media, and the fashion industry, photography has emerged as a lucrative and thrilling career option for many Indian youths.

An individual who is pursuing a career as a producer is responsible for managing the business aspects of production. They are involved in each aspect of production from its inception to deception. Famous movie producers review the script, recommend changes and visualise the story. 

They are responsible for overseeing the finance involved in the project and distributing the film for broadcasting on various platforms. A career as a producer is quite fulfilling as well as exhaustive in terms of playing different roles in order for a production to be successful. Famous movie producers are responsible for hiring creative and technical personnel on contract basis.

Copy Writer

In a career as a copywriter, one has to consult with the client and understand the brief well. A career as a copywriter has a lot to offer to deserving candidates. Several new mediums of advertising are opening therefore making it a lucrative career choice. Students can pursue various copywriter courses such as Journalism , Advertising , Marketing Management . Here, we have discussed how to become a freelance copywriter, copywriter career path, how to become a copywriter in India, and copywriting career outlook. 

In a career as a vlogger, one generally works for himself or herself. However, once an individual has gained viewership there are several brands and companies that approach them for paid collaboration. It is one of those fields where an individual can earn well while following his or her passion. 

Ever since internet costs got reduced the viewership for these types of content has increased on a large scale. Therefore, a career as a vlogger has a lot to offer. If you want to know more about the Vlogger eligibility, roles and responsibilities then continue reading the article. 

For publishing books, newspapers, magazines and digital material, editorial and commercial strategies are set by publishers. Individuals in publishing career paths make choices about the markets their businesses will reach and the type of content that their audience will be served. Individuals in book publisher careers collaborate with editorial staff, designers, authors, and freelance contributors who develop and manage the creation of content.

Careers in journalism are filled with excitement as well as responsibilities. One cannot afford to miss out on the details. As it is the small details that provide insights into a story. Depending on those insights a journalist goes about writing a news article. A journalism career can be stressful at times but if you are someone who is passionate about it then it is the right choice for you. If you want to know more about the media field and journalist career then continue reading this article.

Individuals in the editor career path is an unsung hero of the news industry who polishes the language of the news stories provided by stringers, reporters, copywriters and content writers and also news agencies. Individuals who opt for a career as an editor make it more persuasive, concise and clear for readers. In this article, we will discuss the details of the editor's career path such as how to become an editor in India, editor salary in India and editor skills and qualities.

Individuals who opt for a career as a reporter may often be at work on national holidays and festivities. He or she pitches various story ideas and covers news stories in risky situations. Students can pursue a BMC (Bachelor of Mass Communication) , B.M.M. (Bachelor of Mass Media) , or  MAJMC (MA in Journalism and Mass Communication) to become a reporter. While we sit at home reporters travel to locations to collect information that carries a news value.  

Corporate Executive

Are you searching for a Corporate Executive job description? A Corporate Executive role comes with administrative duties. He or she provides support to the leadership of the organisation. A Corporate Executive fulfils the business purpose and ensures its financial stability. In this article, we are going to discuss how to become corporate executive.

Multimedia Specialist

A multimedia specialist is a media professional who creates, audio, videos, graphic image files, computer animations for multimedia applications. He or she is responsible for planning, producing, and maintaining websites and applications. 

Quality Controller

A quality controller plays a crucial role in an organisation. He or she is responsible for performing quality checks on manufactured products. He or she identifies the defects in a product and rejects the product. 

A quality controller records detailed information about products with defects and sends it to the supervisor or plant manager to take necessary actions to improve the production process.

Production Manager

A QA Lead is in charge of the QA Team. The role of QA Lead comes with the responsibility of assessing services and products in order to determine that he or she meets the quality standards. He or she develops, implements and manages test plans. 

Process Development Engineer

The Process Development Engineers design, implement, manufacture, mine, and other production systems using technical knowledge and expertise in the industry. They use computer modeling software to test technologies and machinery. An individual who is opting career as Process Development Engineer is responsible for developing cost-effective and efficient processes. They also monitor the production process and ensure it functions smoothly and efficiently.

AWS Solution Architect

An AWS Solution Architect is someone who specializes in developing and implementing cloud computing systems. He or she has a good understanding of the various aspects of cloud computing and can confidently deploy and manage their systems. He or she troubleshoots the issues and evaluates the risk from the third party. 

Azure Administrator

An Azure Administrator is a professional responsible for implementing, monitoring, and maintaining Azure Solutions. He or she manages cloud infrastructure service instances and various cloud servers as well as sets up public and private cloud systems. 

Computer Programmer

Careers in computer programming primarily refer to the systematic act of writing code and moreover include wider computer science areas. The word 'programmer' or 'coder' has entered into practice with the growing number of newly self-taught tech enthusiasts. Computer programming careers involve the use of designs created by software developers and engineers and transforming them into commands that can be implemented by computers. These commands result in regular usage of social media sites, word-processing applications and browsers.

Information Security Manager

Individuals in the information security manager career path involves in overseeing and controlling all aspects of computer security. The IT security manager job description includes planning and carrying out security measures to protect the business data and information from corruption, theft, unauthorised access, and deliberate attack 

ITSM Manager

Automation test engineer.

An Automation Test Engineer job involves executing automated test scripts. He or she identifies the project’s problems and troubleshoots them. The role involves documenting the defect using management tools. He or she works with the application team in order to resolve any issues arising during the testing process. 

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Biodiversity - our strongest natural defense against climate change

Biological diversity — or biodiversity — is the variety of life on Earth, in all its forms, from genes and bacteria to entire ecosystems such as forests or coral reefs. The biodiversity we see today is the result of 4.5 billion years of evolution, increasingly influenced by humans.

Biodiversity forms the web of life that we depend on for so many things – food, water, medicine, a stable climate, economic growth, among others. Over half of global GDP is dependent on nature. More than 1 billion people rely on forests for their livelihoods. And land and the ocean absorb more than half of all carbon emissions. 

But nature is in crisis. Up to one million species are threatened with extinction, many within decades. Irreplaceable ecosystems like parts of the Amazon rainforest are turning from carbon sinks into carbon sources due to deforestation. And 85 per cent of wetlands , such as salt marshes and mangrove swamps which absorb large amounts of carbon, have disappeared.   

How is climate change affecting biodiversity?  

The main driver of biodiversity loss remains humans’ use of land – primarily for food production . Human activity has already altered over 70 per cent of all ice-free land. When land is converted for agriculture, some animal and plant species may lose their habitat and face extinction.  

But climate change is playing an increasingly important role in the decline of biodiversity. Climate change has altered marine, terrestrial, and freshwater ecosystems around the world. It has caused the loss of local species, increased diseases, and driven mass mortality of plants and animals, resulting in the first climate-driven extinctions.

On land, higher temperatures have forced animals and plants to move to higher elevations or higher latitudes, many moving towards the Earth’s poles, with far-reaching consequences for ecosystems. The risk of species extinction increases with every degree of warming.  

In the ocean, rising temperatures increase the  risk of irreversible loss of marine and coastal ecosystems . Live coral reefs , for instance, have nearly halved in the past 150 years, and further warming threatens to destroy almost all remaining reefs.  

Overall, climate change affects the health of ecosystems , influencing shifts in the distribution of plants, viruses, animals, and even human settlements. This can create increased opportunities for animals to spread diseases and for viruses to spill over to humans. Human health can also be affected by reduced ecosystem services, such as the loss of food, medicine and livelihoods provided by nature.   

Why is biodiversity essential for limiting climate change?  

When human activities produce greenhouse gases, around half of the emissions remain in the atmosphere, while the other half is  absorbed by the land and ocean . These ecosystems – and the biodiversity they contain – are natural carbon sinks, providing so-called nature-based solutions to climate change.

Protecting, managing, and restoring forests , for example, offers roughly two-thirds of the total mitigation potential of all nature-based solutions. Despite massive and ongoing losses, forests still cover more than 30 per cent of the planet’s land.

Peatlands – wetlands such as marshes and swamps – cover only 3 per cent of the world’s land, but they store twice as much carbon as all the forests. Preserving and restoring peatlands means keeping them wet so the carbon doesn’t oxidize and float off into the atmosphere. 

Ocean habitats such as seagrasses and mangroves can also  sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere  at rates up to four times higher than terrestrial forests can. Their ability to capture and store carbon make mangroves highly valuable in the fight against climate change.

Conserving and restoring natural spaces , both on land and in the water, is essential for limiting carbon emissions and adapting to an already changing climate. About one-third of the greenhouse gas emissions reductions needed in the next decade could be achieved by improving nature’s ability to absorb emissions. 

Is the UN tackling climate and biodiversity together?  

Climate change and biodiversity loss (as well as pollution) are part of an interlinked triple planetary crisis the world is facing today. They need to be tackled together if we are to advance the Sustainable Development Goals and secure a viable future on this planet.

Governments deal with climate change and biodiversity through two different international agreements – the  UN Framework Convention on Climate Change  (UNFCCC) and the  UN Convention on Biological Diversity  (CBD), both established at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit.

Similar to the historic  Paris Agreement  made in 2015 under the UNFCCC, parties to the Biodiversity Convention in December 2022 adopted an agreement for nature, known as the  Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework , which succeeds the  Aichi Biodiversity Targets  adopted in 2010.

The framework includes wide-ranging steps to tackle the causes of biodiversity loss worldwide, including climate change and pollution.

“An ambitious and effective post-2020 global biodiversity framework, with clear targets and benchmarks, can put nature and people back on track,”  the UN Secretary-General said , adding that, “this framework should work in synergy with the Paris Agreement on climate change and other multilateral agreements on forests, desertification and oceans.”

In December 2022,  governments met in Montreal, Canada  to agree on the new framework to secure an ambitious and transformative global plan to set humanity on a path to living in harmony with nature.

“Delivering on the framework will contribute to the climate agenda, while full delivery of the Paris Agreement is needed to allow the framework to succeed,”  said Inger Andersen , the head of the UN Environment Programme. “We can’t work in isolation if we are to end the triple planetary crises.”

Watch our  interview with Elizabeth Mrema , the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity.

Read the UN Secretary-General’s speech at the Countdown to COP15: Leaders Event for a Nature-Positive World in September 2022, and his remarks at the December 2022 Biodiversity Conference and Press Conference.  

Learn more about…

Climate issues

Learn more about how climate change impacts are felt across different sectors and ecosystems.

Elizabeth Mrema: Protecting the world’s biodiversity

The Executive Secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, Elizabeth Mrema, speaks about the interlinkages between climate change and biodiversity loss.

Hindou Ibrahim: Living in harmony with nature

“Indigenous peoples are a solution, we are not only a victim of the climate change,” says SDG Advocate and Indigenous rights activists Hindou Ibrahim.

Elliott Harris: Measure the value of nature – before it’s too late

UN Chief Economist Elliott Harris introduces a ground-breaking shift in valuing nature as a way of making more informed decisions about economies, climate action and the protection of biodiversity.

The Ocean – the world’s greatest ally against climate change

The ocean is central to reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. Here are a few reasons we need to safeguard the ocean as our best ally for climate solutions.

Renewable energy – powering a safer future

Derived from natural resources that are abundant and continuously replenished, renewable energy is key to a safer, cleaner, and sustainable world.  Explore common sources of renewable energy here.

Causes and effects of climate change

Fossil fuels are by far the largest contributor to the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change, which poses many risks to all forms of life on Earth.

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• Biodiversity Essay

Essay on Biodiversity

Biodiversity is a term made up of two words - Bio meaning Life, and Diversity meaning Variety. The term biodiversity refers to the variety of life on Earth. Plants, animals, microbes, and fungi are all examples of living species on the planet.

Types of Biodiversity  

Genetic Biodiversity- Genetic diversity is the variation in genes and genotypes within a species, e.g., every human looks different from the other. 

Species Biodiversity- Species Diversity is the variety of species within a habitat or a region. It is the biodiversity observed within a community.

Ecosystem Biodiversity- Ecological biodiversity refers to the variations in the plant and animal species living together and connected by food chains and food webs.

Importance of Biodiversity 

Biodiversity is an integral part of cultural identity. Human cultures co-evolve with their environment and conservation is a priority for cultural identity. Biodiversity is used for Medicinal purposes.

Many plants and animals are used for medicinal purposes, like vitamins and painkillers. It contributes to climate stability. It helps in controlling the effects of climate change and managing greenhouse gases. 

Biodiversity provides more food resources. It supplies many vital ecosystems, such as creating and maintaining soil quality, controlling pests, and providing habitat for wildlife. Biodiversity has a relationship with Industry. Biological sources provide many Industrial materials including rubber, cotton, leather, food, paper, etc.

There are many economic benefits of Biodiversity. Biodiversity also helps in controlling pollution. Biodiversity helps in forming a healthy ecosystem. Biodiversity also acts as a source of recreation. Along with other factors, biodiversity helps in improving soil quality.

Long Essay on Biodiversity 

There are many economic benefits of Biodiversity. Biodiversity is a source of economic wealth for many regions of the world. Biodiversity facilitates Tourism and the Recreational industry. Natural Reserves and National Parks benefit a lot from it. Forest, wildlife, biosphere reserve, sanctuaries are prime spots for ecotourism, photography, painting, filmmaking, and literary works.

Biodiversity plays a vital role in the maintenance of the gaseous composition of the atmosphere, breakdown of waste material, and removal of pollutants.

Conservation of Biodiversity  

Biodiversity is very important for human existence as all life forms are interlinked with each other and one single disturbance can have multiple effects on another. If we fail to protect our biodiversity, we can endanger our plants, animals, and environment, as well as human life. Therefore, it is necessary to protect our biodiversity at all costs. Conservation of Biodiversity can be done by educating the people to adopt more environment-friendly methods and activities and develop a more harmonious and empathetic nature towards the environment. The involvement and cooperation of communities are very important. The process of continuous protection of Biodiversity is the need of the hour.

The Government of India, along with 155 other nations, has signed the convention of Biodiversity at the Earth Summit to protect it. According to the summit, efforts should be made in preserving endangered species. 

The preservation and proper management methods for wildlife should be made. Food crops, animals, and plants should be preserved. Usage of various food crops should be kept at a minimum. Every country must realize the importance of protecting the ecosystem and safeguarding the habitat. 

The Government of India has launched the Wild Life Protection Act 1972 to protect, preserve, and propagate a variety of species. The Government has also launched a scheme to protect national parks and sanctuaries. There are 12 countries - Mexico, Columbia, Peru, Brasil, Ecuador, Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, India, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Australia, in which Mega Diversity Centres are located. These countries are tropical and they possess a large number of the world’s species.

Various hotspots have been made to protect the vegetation. There are various methods for conserving biodiversity. 

If biodiversity conservation is not done efficiently, each species would eventually become extinct due to a lack of appetite and hunger. This scenario has been a big issue for the last few decades, and many unique species have already become extinct. As a result of a lack of biodiversity protection, several species are still on the verge of extinction.

FAQs on Biodiversity Essay

1. What are the three types of Biodiversity?

Biodiversity is referred to as the variability that exists between the living organisms from different sources of nature, such as terrestrial, marine, and other aquatic ecosystems. Biodiversity has three levels, which are genetic, species, and ecosystem diversity. This is also considered as the type of ecosystem.

2. What is Biodiversity and why is it important?

Biodiversity is responsible for boosting the productivity of the ecosystems in which every species, no matter how small, has an important role to play. For example, a greater variety of crops can be obtained from a plant species which is in large numbers. If species diversity is in a greater amount, then it ensures natural sustainability for all life forms.

3. What is the connection between Biodiversity and the Food Chain?

If a single species goes extinct from the food chain, it will have an impact on the species that survive on it, putting them on the verge of extinction.

4. How are human beings affecting biodiversity?

Pollution- Pollution not only affects human beings, but also affects our flora and fauna, and we should control the pollution to conserve our biodiversity.

Population- Population control is a must to maintain a balance in our ecological system. Humans contribute to pollution by bursting crackers and by not following all the traffic rules.

5. How does Deforestation affect biodiversity?

Deforestation- Trees are very important for survival. They help in balancing out the ecosystem. Deforestation leads to the destruction of habitat. Deforestation should be stopped to protect our animals and plants. Deforestation not only removes vegetation that is important for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, but it also emits greenhouse gases.

133 Biodiversity Topics & Examples

🔝 top-10 biodiversity topics for presentation, 🏆 best biodiversity project topics, 💡 most interesting biodiversity assignment topics, 📌 simple & easy biodiversity related topics, 👍 good biodiversity title ideas, ❓ biodiversity research topics.

• Biodiversity loss.
• Global biodiversity conservation.
• The Amazon rainforest.
• Animal ecology research.
• Sub Saharan Africa.
• Marine biodiversity.
• Threats to ecosystems.
• Plant ecology.
• Importance of environmental conservation.
• Evolution of animal species.
• Biodiversity Hotspots: The Philippines The International Conservation has classified the Philippines as one of the biodiversity hotspots in the world. Additionally, the country is said to be one of the areas that are endangered in the world.
• Aspects, Importance and Issues of Biodiversity Genetic diversity is a term used to refer to the dissimilitude of organisms of the same species. Species diversity is used to refer to dissimilitude of organisms in a given region.
• Biodiversity Benefits for Ecology This variation of species in the ecosystem is a very important concept and factor that indeed is the basis for sustaining life on our planet. Moreover, the most important supporter of life, which is soil […]
• Biodiversity Conservation: Tropical Rainforest The forest is not a threat to many species and that, therefore, helps in showing that conserving this forest will be of great benefit to many species. The disadvantage of conserving the Mangrove Forest is […]
• Habitat Destruction and Biodiversity Extinctions The instance of extinction is by and large regarded as the demise of the very last character of the genus. Habitat obliteration has played a major part in wiping out of species, and it is […]
• How Biodiversity Is Threatened by Human Activity Most of the marine biodiversity is found in the tropics, especially coral reefs that support the growth of organisms. Overexploitation in the oceans is caused by overfishing and fishing practices that cause destruction of biodiversity.
• Loss of Biodiversity and Extinctions It is estimated that the number of species that have become extinct is greater than the number of species that are currently found on earth.
• Natural Sciences: Biodiversity and Human Civilisation The author in conjunction with a team of other researchers used a modelling study to illustrate the fact approximately 2 percent of global energy is currently being deployed in the generation of wind and solar […]
• How Human Health Depends on Biodiversity The disturbance of the ecosystem has some effects on the dynamics of vectors and infectious diseases. Change of climate is a contributing factor in the emergence of new species and infectious diseases.
• Biodiversity, Its Importance and Benefits Apart from that, the paper is going to speculate on the most and least diverse species in the local area. The biodiversity can be measured in terms of the number of different species in the […]
• Biodiversity: Aspects Within the Sphere of Biology Finally, living objects consist of cells, which are the basic units of their function and structure. The viruses’ structure depends on which nucleic acid is included, which denotes that there are DNA and RNA viruses.
• Coral Reef and Biodiversity in Ecosystems Coral reefs are formed only in the tropical zone of the ocean; the temperature limits their life – are from +18 to +29oS, and at the slightest deviation from the boundaries of the coral die.
• Biodiversity and the Health of Ecosystems Various opinions are revealed concerning biodiversity, including the human impact, reversal of biodiversity loss, the impact of overpopulation, the future of biodiversity, and the rate of extinction.
• Wild Crops and Biodiversity Threats However, out of millions of existing types of wild crop cultures, the vast majority have been abandoned and eradicated, as the agricultural companies placed major emphasis on the breeding of domesticated cultures that are easy […]
• Biology Lab Report: Biodiversity Study of Lichens As a consequence of these results, the variety of foods found in forest flora that include lichens may be linked to varying optimum conditions for establishment and development.
• Biodiversity, Interdependency: Threatened and Endhangered Species In the above table, humans rely on bees to facilitate pollination among food crops and use their honey as food. Concurrently, lichens break down rocks to provide nutrient-rich soil in the relationship.
• Invasive Processes’ Impact on Ecosystem’s Biodiversity If the invasive ones prove to be more adaptive, this will bring about the oppression of the native species and radical changes in the ecosystem.
• Conserving Biodiversity: The Loggerhead Turtle The loggerhead sea turtle is the species of oceanic turtle which is spread all over the world and belongs to the Cheloniidae family.
• Biodiversity and Dynamics of Mountainous Area Near the House It should be emphasized that the term ecosystem used in this paper is considered a natural community characterized by a constant cycle of energy and resources, the presence of consumers, producers, and decomposers, as well […]
• National Biodiversity Strategy By this decision, the UN seeks to draw the attention of the world community and the leaders of all countries to the protection and rational use of natural resources.
• Rewilding Our Cities: Beauty, Biodiversity and the Biophilic Cities Movement What is the source of your news item? The Guardian.
• Biodiversity and Food Production This paper will analyze the importance of biodiversity in food production and the implications for human existence. Edible organisms are few as compared to the total number of organisms in the ecosystem.
• Restoring the Everglades Wetlands: Biodiversity The Act lays out the functions and roles of the Department of Environmental Protection and the South Florida Water Management District in restoration of the Everglades.
• Biodiversity: Importance and Benefits This is due to the fact that man is evolving from the tendency of valuing long term benefits to a tendency of valuing short terms benefits.
• A Benchmarking Biodiversity Survey of the Inter-Tidal Zone at Goat Island Bay, Leigh Marine Laboratory Within each quadrant, the common species were counted or, in the case of seaweed and moss, proliferation estimated as a percentage of the quadrant occupied.
• Ecological Consequences Due to Changes in Biodiversity The author is an ecologist whose main area of interest is in the field of biodiversity and composition of the ecosystem.
• Biodiversity: Population Versus Ecosystem Diversity by David Tilman How is the variability of the plant species year to year in the community biomass? What is the rate of the plant productivity in the ecosystem?
• Biodiversity Hotspots and Environmental Ethics The magnitude of the problem of losing biodiversity hotspots is too great, to the extend of extinction of various species from the face of the earth.
• The Importance of Biodiversity in Ecosystem The most urgent problem right now is to maintain the level of biodiversity in this world but it has to begin with a more in-depth understanding of how different species of flora and fauna can […]
• Natural Selection and Biodiversity These are featured by the ways in which the inhabiting organisms adapt to them and it is the existence of these organisms on which the ecosystems depend and therefore it is evident that this diversity […]
• Scientific Taxonomy and Earth’s Biodiversity A duck is a domestic bird that is reared for food in most parts of the world. It is associated with food in the household and is smaller than a bee.
• Global Warming: Causes and Impact on Health, Environment and the Biodiversity Global warming is defined in simple terms as the increase in the average temperature of the Earth’s surface including the air and oceans in recent decades and if the causes of global warming are not […]
• Loss of Biodiversity in the Amazon Ecosystem The growth of the human population and the expansion of global economies have contributed to the significant loss of biodiversity despite the initial belief that the increase of resources can halt the adverse consequences of […]
• California’s Coastal Biodiversity Initiative The considered threat to California biodiversity is a relevant topic in the face of climate change. To prevent this outcome, it is necessary to involve the competent authorities and plan a possible mode of operation […]
• Biodiversity: American Museum of Natural History While staying at the museum, I took a chance to visit the Milstein Family Hall of Ocean Life and the Hall of Reptiles and Amphibians.
• Biodiversity and Animal Population in Micronesia This means that in the future, the people living in Micronesia will have to move to other parts of the world when their homes get submerged in the water.
• Urban Plants’ Role in Insects’ Biodiversity The plants provide food, shelter and promote the defensive mechanisms of the insects. The observation was also an instrumental method that was used to assess the behavior and the existence of insects in relation to […]
• Earth’s Biodiversity: Extinction Rates Exaggerated This is because most animals and plants have been projected to be extinct by the end of this century yet the method that is used to forecast this can exaggerate by more than 160%.
• Biodiversity Markets and Bolsa Floresta Program Environmentalists and scholars of the time led by Lord Monboddo put forward the significance of nature conservation which was followed by implementation of conservation policies in the British Indian forests.
• Brazilian Amazonia: Biodiversity and Deforestation Secondly, the mayor persuaded the people to stop deforestation to save the Amazon. Additionally, deforestation leads to displacement of indigenous people living in the Amazonia.
• Defining and Measuring Biodiversity Biodiversity is measured in terms of attributes that explore the quality of nature; richness and evenness of the living organisms within an ecological niche.
• Biodiversity, Its Evolutionary and Genetic Reasons The occurrence of natural selection is hinged on the hypothesis that offspring inherit their characteristics from their parents in the form of genes and that members of any particular population must have some inconsiderable disparity […]
• Climate Change’s Negative Impact on Biodiversity This essay’s primary objective is to trace and evaluate the impact of climate change on biological diversity through the lens of transformations in the marine and forest ecosystems and evaluation of the agricultural sector both […]
• Biodiversity Hotspots: Evaluation and Analysis The region also boasts with the endangered freshwater turtle species, which are under a threat of extinction due to over-harvesting and destroyed habitat.
• Marine Biodiversity Conservation and Impure Public Goods The fact that the issue concerning the global marine biodiversity and the effects that impure public goods may possibly have on these rates can lead to the development of a range of externalities that should […]
• Biodiversity and Business Risk In conclusion, biodiversity risk affects businesses since the loss of biodiversity leads to: coastal flooding, desertification and food insecurity, all of which have impacts on business organizations.
• Measurement of Biodiversity It is the “sum total of all biotic variation from the level of genes to ecosystems” according to Andy Purvus and Andy Hector in their article entitled “Getting the Measure of Diversity” which appeared in […]
• Introduced Species and Biodiversity Rhymer and Simberloff explain that the seriousness of the phenomenon may not be very evident from direct observation of the morphological traits of the species.
• Ecosystems: Biodiversity and Habitat Loss The review of the topic shows that the relationship between urban developmental patterns and the dynamics of ecosystem are concepts that are still not clearly understood in the scholarly world as well as in general.
• When Human Diet Costs Too Much: Biodiversity as the Ultimate Answer to the Global Problems Because of the unreasonable use of the natural resources, environmental pollution and inadequate protection, people have led a number of species to extinction; moreover, due to the increasing rates of consumerist approach towards the food […]
• The Impact of Burmese Pythons on Florida’s Native Biodiversity Scientists from the South Florida Natural Resource Center, the Smithsonian institute and the University of Florida have undertaken studies to assess the predation behavior of the Burmese pythons on birds in the area.
• Essentials of Biodiversity At the same time, the knowledge and a more informed understanding of the whole concept of biodiversity gives us the power to intervene in the event that we are faced by the loss of biodiversity, […]
• Threat to Biodiversity Is Just as Important as Climate Change This paper shall articulate the truth of this statement by demonstrating that threats to biodiversity pose significant threat to the sustainability of human life on earth and are therefore the protection of biodiversity is as […]
• Cold Water Coral Ecosystems and Their Biodiversity: A Review of Their Economic and Social Value
• Benchmarking DNA Metabarcoding for Biodiversity-Based Monitoring and Assessment
• Prospects for Integrating Disturbances, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning Using Microbial Systems
• Enterprising Nature: Economics, Markets, and Finance in Global Biodiversity Politics
• Institutional Economics and the Behaviour of Conservation Organizations: Implications for Biodiversity Conservation
• Fisheries, Fish Pollution and Biodiversity: Choice Experiments With Fishermen, Traders and Consumers
• Last Stand: Protected Areas and the Defense of Tropical Biodiversity
• Hardwiring Green: How Banks Account For Biodiversity Risks and Opportunities
• Governance Criteria for Effective Transboundary Biodiversity Conservation
• Marine Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas for Penguins in Antarctica: Targets for Conservation Action
• Ecological and Economic Assessment of Forests Biodiversity: Formation of Theoretical and Methodological Instruments
• Environment and Biodiversity Impacts of Organic and Conventional Agriculture
• Food From the Water: How the Fish Production Revolution Affects Aquatic Biodiversity and Food Security
• Biodiversity and World Food Security: Nourishing the Planet and Its People
• Climate Change and Energy Economics: Key Indicators and Approaches to Measuring Biodiversity
• Conflicts Between Biodiversity and Carbon Sequestration Programs: Economic and Legal Implications
• Models for Sample Selection Bias in Contingent Valuation: Application to Forest Biodiversity
• Optimal Land Conversion and Growth With Uncertain Biodiversity Costs
• Internalizing Global Externalities From Biodiversity: Protected Areas and Multilateral Mechanisms of Transfer
• Combining Internal and External Motivations in Multi-Actor Governance Arrangements for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
• Balancing State and Volunteer Investment in Biodiversity Monitoring for the Implementation of CBD Indicators
• Differences and Similarities Between Ecological and Economic Models for Biodiversity Conservation
• Globalization and the Connection of Remote Communities: Household Effects and Their Biodiversity Implications
• Shaded Coffee and Cocoa – Double Dividend for Biodiversity and Small-Scale Farmers
• Spatial Priorities for Marine Biodiversity Conservation in the Coral Triangle
• One World, One Experiment: Addressing the Biodiversity and Economics Conflict
• Alternative Targets and Economic Efficiency of Selecting Protected Areas for Biodiversity Conservation in Boreal Forest
• Analysing Multi Level Water and Biodiversity Governance in Their Context
• Agricultural Biotechnology: Productivity, Biodiversity, and Intellectual Property Rights
• Renewable Energy and Biodiversity: Implications for Transitioning to a Green Economy
• Agricultural Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services of Major Farming Systems
• Integrated Land Use Modelling of Agri-Environmental Measures to Maintain Biodiversity at Landscape Level
• Changing Business Perceptions Regarding Biodiversity: From Impact Mitigation Towards New Strategies and Practices
• Forest Biodiversity and Timber Extraction: An Analysis of the Interaction of Market and Non-market Mechanisms
• Poverty and Biodiversity: Measuring the Overlap of Human Poverty and the Biodiversity Hotspots
• Protecting Agro-Biodiversity by Promoting Rural Livelihoods
• Maintaining Biodiversity and Environmental Sustainability
• Landscape, Legal, and Biodiversity Threats That Windows Pose to Birds: A Review of an Important Conservation Issue
• Variable Mating Behaviors and the Maintenance of Tropical Biodiversity
• Species Preservation and Biodiversity Value: A Real Options Approach
• What Is Being Done to Preserve Biodiversity and Its Hotspots?
• How Are Argentina and Chile Facing Shared Biodiversity Loss?
• Are Diverse Ecosystems More Valuable?
• How Can Biodiversity Loss Be Prevented?
• Can Payments for Watershed Services Help Save Biodiversity?
• How Can Business Reduce Impacts on the World’s Biodiversity?
• Are National Biodiversity Strategies Appropriate for Building Responsibilities for Mainstreaming Biodiversity Across Policy Sectors?
• How Does Agriculture Effect Biodiversity?
• Are There Income Effects on Global Willingness to Pay For Biodiversity Conservation?
• How Does the Economic Risk Aversion Affect Biodiversity?
• What Are the Threats of Biodiversity?
• How Has the Increased Usage of Synthetic Pesticides Impacted Biodiversity?
• What Does Drive Biodiversity Conservation Effort in the Developing World?
• How Does the Plantation Affect Biodiversity?
• What Does Drive Long-Run Biodiversity Change?
• How Does the United Nations Deal With Biodiversity?
• What Factors Affect Biodiversity?
• How Are Timber Harvesting and Biodiversity Managed in Uneven-Aged Forests?
• When Should Biodiversity Tenders Contract on Outcomes?
• Who Cares About Biodiversity?
• Why Can Financial Incentives Destroy Economically Valuable Biodiversity in Ethiopia?
• What Factors Affect an Area’s Biodiversity?
• In What Ways Is Biodiversity Economically Valuable?
• Which Human Activities Threaten Biodiversity?
• How Can Biodiversity Be Protected?
• In What Ways Is Biodiversity Ecologically Value?
• In Which Countries Is Biodiversity Economically Valuable?
• Does Species Diversity Follow Any Patterns?
• How Is Biodiversity Measured?
• What Is a Biodiversity Hotspot?
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

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Press Release

Study in nature: protecting the ocean delivers a comprehensive solution for climate, fishing and biodiversity.

Photograph by Southern Line Islands

Groundbreaking global study is the first to map ocean areas that, if strongly protected, would help solve climate, food and biodiversity crises.

London, UK (17 March 2021) —A new study published in the prestigious peer-reviewed scientific journal Nature today offers a combined solution to several of humanity’s most pressing challenges. It is the most comprehensive assessment to date of where strict ocean protection can contribute to a more abundant supply of healthy seafood and provide a cheap, natural solution to address climate change—in addition to protecting embattled species and habitats.

An international team of 26 authors identified specific areas that, if protected, would safeguard over 80% of the habitats for endangered marine species, and increase fishing catches by more than eight million metric tons. The study is also the first to quantify the potential release of carbon dioxide into the ocean from trawling, a widespread fishing practice—and finds that trawling is pumping hundreds of millions of tons of carbon dioxide into the ocean every year, a volume of emissions similar to those of aviation.

“Ocean life has been declining worldwide because of overfishing, habitat destruction and climate change. Yet only 7% of the ocean is currently under some kind of protection,” said Dr. Enric Sala, explorer in residence at the National Geographic Society and lead author of the study, Protecting the global ocean for biodiversity, food and climate .

“In this study, we’ve pioneered a new way to identify the places that—if strongly protected—will boost food production and safeguard marine life, all while reducing carbon emissions,” Dr. Sala said. “It’s clear that humanity and the economy will benefit from a healthier ocean. And we can realize those benefits quickly if countries work together to protect at least 30% of the ocean by 2030.”

To identify the priority areas, the authors—leading marine biologists, climate experts, and economists—analyzed the world’s unprotected ocean waters based on the degree to which they are threatened by human activities that can be reduced by marine protected areas (for example, overfishing and habitat destruction). They then developed an algorithm to identify those areas where protections would deliver the greatest benefits across the three complementary goals of biodiversity protection, seafood production and climate mitigation. They mapped these locations to create a practical “blueprint” that governments can use as they implement their commitments to protect nature.

The study does not provide a single map for ocean conservation, but it offers a first-in-kind framework for countries to decide which areas to protect depending on their national priorities. However, the analysis shows that 30% is the minimum amount of ocean that the world must protect in order to provide multiple benefits to humanity.

“There is no single best solution to save marine life and obtain these other benefits. The solution depends on what society—or a given country—cares about, and our study provides a new way to integrate these preferences and find effective conservation strategies,” said Dr. Juan S. Mayorga, a report co-author and a marine data scientist with the Environmental Market Solutions Lab at UC Santa Barbara and Pristine Seas at National Geographic Society.

The study comes ahead of the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, which is expected to take place in Kunming, China in 2021. The meeting will bring together representatives of 190 countries to finalize an agreement to end the world’s biodiversity crisis. The goal of protecting 30% of the planet’s land and ocean by 2030 (the “30x30” target) is expected to be a pillar of the treaty. The study follows commitments by the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, the European Commission and others to achieve this target on national and global scales.

Safeguarding Biodiversity

The report identifies highly diverse marine areas in which species and ecosystems face the greatest threats from human activities. Establishing marine protected areas (MPAs) with strict protection in those places would safeguard more than 80% of the ranges of endangered species, up from a current coverage of less than 2%.

The authors found that the priority locations are distributed throughout the ocean, with the vast majority of them contained within the 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zones of coastal nations.

The additional protection targets are located in the high seas—those waters governed by international law. These include the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (a massive underwater mountain range), the Mascarene Plateau in the Indian Ocean, the Nazca Ridge off the west coast of South America and the Southwest Indian Ridge, between Africa and Antarctica.

"Perhaps the most impressive and encouraging result is the enormous gain we can obtain for biodiversity conservation—if we carefully chose the location of strictly protected marine areas,” said Dr. David Mouillot, a report co-author and a professor at the Université de Montpellier in France. “One notable priority for conservation is Antarctica, which currently has little protection, but is projected to host many vulnerable species in a near future due to climate change."

Shoring up the Fishing Industry

The study finds that smartly placed marine protected areas (MPAs) that ban fishing would actually boost the production of fish—at a time when supplies of wild-caught fish are dwindling and demand is rising. In doing so, the study refutes a long-held view that ocean protection harms fisheries and opens up new opportunities to revive the industry just as it is suffering from a recession due to overfishing and the impacts of global warming.

“Some argue that closing areas to fishing hurts fishing interests. But the worst enemy of successful fisheries is overfishing—not protected areas,” Dr. Sala said.

The study finds that protecting the right places could increase the catch of seafood by over 8 million metric tons relative to business as usual.

“It’s simple: When overfishing and other damaging activities cease, marine life bounces back,” said Dr. Reniel Cabral, a report co-author and assistant researcher with the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management and Marine Science Institute at UC Santa Barbara. “After protections are put in place, the diversity and abundance of marine life increase over time, with measurable recovery occurring in as little as three years. Target species and large predators come back, and entire ecosystems are restored within MPAs. With time, the ocean can heal itself and again provide services to humankind.”

Soaking up Carbon

The study is the first to calculate the climate impacts of bottom trawling, a damaging fishing method used worldwide that drags heavy nets across the ocean floor. It finds that the amount of carbon dioxide released into the ocean from this practice is larger than most countries’ annual carbon emissions, and similar to annual carbon dioxide emissions from global aviation.

“The ocean floor is the world’s largest carbon storehouse. If we’re to succeed in stopping global warming, we must leave the carbon-rich seabed undisturbed. Yet every day, we are trawling the seafloor, depleting its biodiversity and mobilizing millennia-old carbon and thus exacerbating climate change. Our findings about the climate impacts of bottom trawling will make the activities on the ocean’s seabed hard to ignore in climate plans going forward,” said Dr. Trisha Atwood of Utah State University, a co-author of the paper.

The study finds that countries with the highest potential to contribute to climate change mitigation via protection of carbon stocks are those with large national waters and large industrial bottom trawl fisheries. It calculates that eliminating 90% of the present risk of carbon disturbance due to bottom trawling would require protecting only about 4% of the ocean , mostly within national waters.

Closing a Gap

The study’s range of findings helps to close a gap in our knowledge about the impacts of ocean conservation, which to date had been understudied relative to land-based conservation.

“The ocean covers 70% of the earth—yet, until now, its importance for solving the challenges of our time has been overlooked,” said Dr. Boris Worm, a study co-author and Killam Research Professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. “Smart ocean protection will help to provide cheap natural climate solutions, make seafood more abundant and safeguard imperiled marine species—all at the same time. The benefits are clear. If we want to solve the three most pressing challenges of our century—biodiversity loss, climate change and food shortages —we must protect our ocean.”

Additional Quotes from Supporters and Report Co-Authors

Zac Goldsmith, British Minister for Pacific and the Environment, UK

Kristen Rechberger, Founder & CEO, Dynamic Planet

Dr. William Chueng, Canada Research Chair and Professor, The University of British Columbia, Principal Investigator, Changing Ocean Research Unit, The University of British Columbia

Dr. Jennifer McGowan, Global Science, The Nature Conservancy & Center for Biodiversity and Global Change, Yale University

Dr. Alan Friedlander, Chief Scientist, Pristine Seas, National Geographic Society at the Hawai'i Institute of Marine Biology, University of Hawai'i

Dr. Ben Halpern, Director of the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS), UCSB

Dr. Whitney Goodell, Marine Ecologist, Pristine Seas, National Geographic Society

Dr. Lance Morgan, President and CEO, Marine Conservation Institute

Dr. Darcy Bradley, Co-Director of the Ocean and Fisheries Program at the Environmental Market Solutions Lab, UCSB

The study, Protecting the global ocean for biodiversity, food and climate , answers the question of which places in the ocean should we protect for nature and people. The authors developed a novel framework to produce a global map of places that, if protected from fishing and other damaging activities, will produce multiple benefits to people: safeguarding marine life, boosting seafood production and reducing carbon emissions. Twenty-six scientists and economists contributed to the study.

Study’s Topline Facts

• Ocean life has been declining worldwide because of overfishing, habitat destruction and climate change. Yet only 7% of the ocean is currently under some kind of protection.
• A smart plan of ocean protection will contribute to more abundant seafood and provide a cheap, natural solution to help solve climate change, alongside economic benefits.
• Humanity and the economy would benefit from a healthier ocean. Quicker benefits occur when countries work together to protect at least 30% of the ocean.
• Substantial increases in ocean protection could achieve triple benefits, not only protecting biodiversity, but also boosting fisheries’ productivity and securing marine carbon stocks.

Study’s Topline Findings

• The study is the first to calculate that the practice of bottom trawling the ocean floor is responsible for one gigaton of carbon emissions on average annually. This is equivalent to all emissions from aviation worldwide. It is, furthermore, greater than the annual emissions of all countries except China, the U.S., India, Russia and Japan.
• The study reveals that protecting strategic ocean areas could produce an additional 8 million tons of seafood.
• The study reveals that protecting more of the ocean--as long as the protected areas are strategically located--would reap significant benefits for climate, food and biodiversity.

Priority Areas for Triple Wins

• If society were to value marine biodiversity and food provisioning equally, and established marine protected areas based on these two priorities, the best conservation strategy would protect 45% of the ocean, delivering 71% of the possible biodiversity benefits, 92% of the food provisioning benefits and 29% of the carbon benefits.
• If no value were assigned to biodiversity, protecting 29% of the ocean would secure 8.3 million tons of extra seafood and 27% of carbon benefits. It would also still secure 35% of biodiversity benefits.
• Global-scale prioritization helps focus attention and resources on places that yield the largest possible benefits.
• A globally coordinated expansion of marine protected areas (MPAs) could achieve 90% of the maximum possible biodiversity benefit with less than half as much area as a protection strategy based solely on national priorities.
• EEZs are areas of the global ocean within 200 nautical miles off the coast of maritime countries that claim sole rights to the resources found within them. ( Source )

Priority Areas for Climate

• Eliminating 90% of the present risk of carbon disturbance due to bottom trawling would require protecting 3.6% of the ocean, mostly within EEZs.
• Priority areas for carbon are where important carbon stocks coincide with high anthropogenic threats, including Europe’s Atlantic coastal areas and productive upwelling areas.

Countries with the highest potential to contribute to climate change mitigation via protection of carbon stocks are those with large EEZs and large industrial bottom trawl fisheries.

Priority Areas for Biodiversity

• Through protection of specific areas, the average protection of endangered species could be increased from 1.5% to 82% and critically endangered species from 1.1% to and 87%.
• the Antarctic Peninsula
• the Mid-Atlantic Ridge
• the Mascarene Plateau
• the Nazca Ridge
• the Southwest Indian Ridge
• Despite climate change, about 80% of today’s priority areas for biodiversity will still be essential in 2050. In the future, however, some cooler waters will be more important protection priorities, whereas warmer waters will likely be too stressed by climate change to shelter as much biodiversity as they currently do. Specifically, some temperate regions and parts of the Arctic would rank as higher priorities for biodiversity conservation by 2050, whereas large areas in the high seas between the tropics and areas in the Southern Hemisphere would decrease in priority.

Priority Areas for Food Provision

• If we only cared about increasing the supply of seafood, strategically placed MPAs covering 28% of the ocean could increase food provisioning by 8.3 million metric tons.

The Campaign for Nature works with scientists, Indigenous Peoples, and a growing coalition of over 100 conservation organizations around the world who are calling on policymakers to commit to clear and ambitious targets to be agreed upon at the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Kunming, China in 2021 to protect at least 30% of the planet by 2030 and working with Indigenous leaders to ensure full respect for Indigenous rights.

Media Contact

The National Geographic Society is a global nonprofit organization that uses the power of science, exploration, education and storytelling to illuminate and protect the wonder of our world. Since 1888, National Geographic has pushed the boundaries of exploration, investing in bold people and transformative ideas, providing more than 15,000 grants for work across all seven continents, reaching 3 million students each year through education offerings, and engaging audiences around the globe through signature experiences, stories and content. To learn more, visit www.nationalgeographic.org or follow us on Instagram , LinkedIn, and Facebook .

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• Open access
• Published: 24 March 2022

Improving biodiversity protection through artificial intelligence

• Daniele Silvestro   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-0100-0961 1 , 2 , 3   na1 ,
• Stefano Goria 4 ,
• Thomas Sterner   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-4771-3545 5 &
• Alexandre Antonelli   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-1842-9297 3 , 6 , 7   na1  

Nature Sustainability volume  5 ,  pages 415–424 ( 2022 ) Cite this article

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• Biodiversity
• Climate-change ecology
• Conservation biology
• Environmental economics
• Sustainability

Over a million species face extinction, highlighting the urgent need for conservation policies that maximize the protection of biodiversity to sustain its manifold contributions to people’s lives. Here we present a novel framework for spatial conservation prioritization based on reinforcement learning that consistently outperforms available state-of-the-art software using simulated and empirical data. Our methodology, conservation area prioritization through artificial intelligence (CAPTAIN), quantifies the trade-off between the costs and benefits of area and biodiversity protection, allowing the exploration of multiple biodiversity metrics. Under a limited budget, our model protects significantly more species from extinction than areas selected randomly or naively (such as based on species richness). CAPTAIN achieves substantially better solutions with empirical data than alternative software, meeting conservation targets more reliably and generating more interpretable prioritization maps. Regular biodiversity monitoring, even with a degree of inaccuracy characteristic of citizen science surveys, further improves biodiversity outcomes. Artificial intelligence holds great promise for improving the conservation and sustainable use of biological and ecosystem values in a rapidly changing and resource-limited world.

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30×30 biodiversity gains rely on national coordination

Biodiversity is the variety of all life on Earth, from genes to populations, species, functions and ecosystems. Alongside its own intrinsic value and ecological roles, biodiversity provides us with clean water, pollination services, building materials, clothing, food and medicine, among many other physical and cultural contributions that species make to ecosystem services and people’s lives 1 , 2 . The contradiction is that our endeavours to maximize short-term benefits have become unsustainable, depleting biodiversity and threatening the life-sustaining foundations of humanity in the long term 3 (Supplementary Box 1 ). This can help explain why, despite the risks, we are living in an age of mass extinction 4 , 5 . The imperative to feed and house rapidly growing human populations, with an estimated 2.4 billion more people by 2050, together with increasing disruptions from climate change, will put tremendous pressure on the world’s last remaining native ecosystems and the species they contain. Because not a single one of the 20 Aichi Biodiversity Targets agreed by 196 nations for the period 2011–2020 has been fully met 6 , there is now an urgent need to design more realistic and effective policies for a sustainable future 7 that help deliver the conservation targets under the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, the focus of the 15th Conference of the Parties in 2022.

There have been several theoretical and practical frameworks underlying biological conservation 8 since the 1960s. The field was initially focused on the conservation of nature for itself, without human interference, but gradually incorporated the bidirectional links to people, recognizing our ubiquitous influence on nature and the multifaceted contributions we derive from it, including the sustainable use of species 1 , 8 , 9 . Throughout this progress, a critical step has been the identification of priority areas for targeted protection, restoration planning, impact avoidance and loss minimization, triggering the development of the fields of spatial conservation prioritization and systematic conservation planning 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 . While humans and wild species are increasingly sharing the same space 17 , the preservation of largely intact nature remains critical for safeguarding many species and ecosystems, such as tropical rainforests.

Several tools and algorithms have been designed to facilitate systematic conservation planning 18 . They often allow the exploration and optimization of trade-offs between variables, something not readily available in Geographic Information Systems 19 , which can lead to substantial economic, social and environmental gains 20 . While the initial focus has been on maximizing the protection of species while minimizing costs, additional parameters can sometimes be modelled, such as species rarity and threat, total protected area and evolutionary diversity 18 , 21 , 22 . The most widely used method so far, Marxan 23 , seeks to identify a set of protected areas that collectively allow particular conservation targets to be met under minimal costs, using a simulated annealing optimization algorithm. Despite its usefulness and popularity, Marxan and similar methods 18 were designed to optimize a one-time policy, do not directly incorporate changes through time, and assume a single initial gathering of biodiversity and cost data (although temporal aspects can be explored by manually updating and re-running the models under various targets 24 ). In addition, the optimized conservation planning does not explicitly incorporate climate change, variation in anthropogenic pressure (although varying threat probabilities are dealt with in recent software extensions of Marxan 25 , 26 ), or species-specific sensitivities to such changes.

In this study we have tackled the challenge of optimizing biodiversity protection in a complex and rapidly evolving world by harnessing the power of artificial intelligence (AI). We have developed an entirely novel tool for systematic conservation planning (Fig. 1 ) that optimizes a conservation policy based on static or dynamic biodiversity monitoring towards user-defined targets (such as minimizing species loss) and within the constraints of a limited financial budget, and used it to explore, through simulations and empirical analyses, multiple previously identified trade-offs in real-world conservation and to evaluate the impact of data gathering on specific outcomes 27 . We have also explored the impact of species-specific sensitivity to geographically varying local disturbances (for example, as a consequence of new roads, mining, trawling or other forms of unsustainable economic activity with negative impacts on natural ecosystems) and climate change (overall temperature increases as well as short-term variations to reflect extreme weather events). We name our framework CAPTAIN, denoting Conservation Area Prioritization Through Artificial INtelligence.

a , A simulated system, which could be equivalent to a country an island or a large coral reef, consists of a number of cells, each with a number of individuals of various species. Once a protection unit is identified and protected, its human-driven disturbance (for example, forest logging or sea trawling) will immediately reduce to an arbitrarily low level, except for the well-known edge effect 47 characterized by intermediate levels of disturbance. All simulation settings are provided with initial default values but are fully customizable (Supplementary Tables 1 and 2 ). Simulated systems evolve through time and are used to optimize a conservation policy using RL. After training the model, the optimized policy can be used to evaluate the model performance based on simulated or empirical data. Using empirical data, the simulated system is replaced with available biodiversity and disturbance data. b , c , Analysis flowchart integrating system evolution ( b ) with simulations and AI modules ( c ) to maximize selected outcomes (for example, species richness). The system evolves between two points in time, with several time-dependent variables considered (seven plotted here): species richness, population density, economic value, phylogenetic diversity, anthropogenic disturbance, climate and species rank abundance (see www.captain-project.net for animations depicting these and additional variables). Biodiversity features (species presence per protection unit at a minimum, plus their abundance under full monitoring schemes as defined here; see Methods and Supplementary Box 2 for advances in data gathering approaches) are extracted from the system at regular steps, and are then fed into a neural network that learns from the system’s evolution to identify conservation policies that maximize a reward, such as protection of the maximum species diversity within a fixed budget. The vectors of parameters x , z and y represent the nodes of the input, hidden layers and output of the neural network, respectively.

Within AI, we implemented a reinforcement learning (RL) framework based on a spatially explicit simulation of biodiversity and its evolution through time in response to anthropogenic pressure and climate change. The RL algorithm is designed to find an optimal balance between data generation (learning from the current state of a system, also termed ‘exploration’) and action (called ‘exploitation’, the effect of which is quantified by the outcome, also termed ‘reward’). Our platform enables us to assess the influence of model assumptions on the reward, mimicking the use of counterfactual analyses 22 . CAPTAIN can optimize a static policy, where all the budget is spent at once, or (more in line with its primary objective) a conservation policy that develops over time, thus being particularly suitable for designing policies and testing their short- and long-term effects. Actions are decided based on the state of the system through a neural network, whose parameters are optimized within the RL framework to maximize the reward. Once a model is trained through RL, it can be used to identify conservation priorities in space and time using simulated or empirical data.

Although AI solutions have been previously proposed and to some extent are already used in conservation science 28 , 29 , to our knowledge RL has only been advocated 30 and not yet implemented in practical conservation tools. In particular, CAPTAIN aims to tackle multidimensional problems of loss minimization considered by techniques such as stochastic dynamic programming but proven thus far intractable for large systems 13 . It thus fills an important space in conservation in a dynamic world 31 , characterized by heterogeneous and often unpredictable habitat loss 14 , which require iterative and regular conservation interventions.

We have used CAPTAIN to address the following questions: (1) What role does the data-gathering strategy have in effective conservation? (2) What trade-offs arise depending on the optimized variable, such as species richness, economic value or total area protected? (3) What can the simulation framework reveal in terms of winners and losers, that is, which traits characterize the species and areas protected over time? (4) How does our framework perform compared with the state-of-the-art model for conservation planning, Marxan 23 ? Finally, we demonstrate here the usefulness of our framework and direct applicability of models trained through RL on an empirical dataset of endemic trees of Madagascar.

Impact of data gathering strategy

Using CAPTAIN we found that full recurrent monitoring (where the system is monitored at each time step, including species presence and abundance) results in the smallest species loss: it succeeds in protecting on average 26% more species than a random protection policy (Fig. 2a and Supplementary Table 3 ). A very similar outcome (24.9% improvement) is generated by the citizen science recurrent monitoring strategy (where only presence/absence of species are recorded in each cell), with a degree of error characteristic of citizen science efforts (Fig. 2b and Methods ). These two monitoring strategies outperform a full initial monitoring with no error, which only saves from extinction an average of 20% more species than a random policy (Fig. 2c and Supplementary Table 3 ).

a – c , Outcome of policies designed to minimize species loss based on different monitoring strategies: full recurrent monitoring (of species presence and abundance at each time step; a ), citizen science recurrent monitoring (limited to species presence/absence with some error at each time step; b ) and full initial monitoring (species presence and abundance only at the initial time; c ). The results show the percentage change in species loss, total protected area, accumulated species value and phylogenetic diversity between a random protection policy (black polygons) and models optimized by CAPTAIN (blue polygons). All results are averaged across 250 simulations, with more details shown in Supplementary Table 3 . Each simulation was based on the same budget and resolution of the protection units (5 × 5 cells) but differed in their initial natural system (species distributions, abundances, tolerances and phylogenetic relationships) and in the dynamics of climate change and disturbance patterns.

To thoroughly explore the parameter space of the simulations, each system was initialized with different species composition and distributions and different anthropogenic pressure and climate change patterns (Supplementary Figs. 1 – 4 ). Because of this stochasticity, the reliability of the protection policies in relation to species loss varies across simulations. The policies based on full recurrent monitoring and citizen science recurrent monitoring are the most reliable, outperforming the baseline random policy in 97.2% of the simulations. Both these policies are more reliable than the full initial monitoring, which in addition to protecting fewer species on average (Fig. 2 ) also results in a slightly lower reliability of the outcome, outperforming the random policy in 91.2% of the simulations.

Optimization trade-offs

The policy objective, which determines the optimality criterion in our RL framework, strongly influences the outcome of the simulations. A policy minimizing species loss based on their commercial value (such as timber price) tends to sacrifice more species to prioritize the protection of fewer, highly valuable ones. This policy, while efficiently reducing the loss of cumulative value, decreases species losses by only 10.9% compared with the random baseline (Supplementary Table 3 ). Thus, a policy targeting exclusively the preservation of species with high economic value may have a strongly negative impact on the total protected species richness, phylogenetic diversity and even amount of protected area compared with a policy minimizing species loss (Fig. 3a ).

a , b , The impact of different policy objectives based on full recurrent monitoring: the policies were designed to minimize value loss ( a ) and maximize the amount of protected area ( b ). The plots show the outcome averaged across 250 simulations (blue polygons). The radial axis shows the percentage change compared with the baseline random policy, and the dashed grey polygons show the outcome of a policy with full recurrent monitoring optimized to minimize biodiversity loss (Fig. 2a ).

A policy that maximizes protected area results in a 27.6% increase in the number of protected cells by selecting those cheapest to buy; however, it leads to substantial losses in species numbers, value and phylogenetic diversity, which are considerably worse than the random baseline, with 13.6% more species losses on average (Supplementary Table 3 ). The decreased performance in terms of preventing extinctions is even more pronounced when compared with a policy minimizing species loss (Fig. 3b ).

As expected, the reliability for optimizations based on economic value and total protected area is high for the respective policy objectives, but they result in highly inconsistent outcomes in terms of preventing species extinctions, with biodiversity losses not significantly different from those of the random baseline policy (Supplementary Table 3 ).

Winners and losers

Focusing on the policy developed under full recurrent monitoring and optimized on reducing species loss, we explored the properties of species that survived in comparison with those that went extinct, despite optimal area protection. Species that went extinct are characterized by relatively small initial ranges, small populations and intermediate or low resilience to disturbance (Fig. 4a ). In contrast, species that survived have either low resilience but widespread ranges and high population sizes, or high resilience with small ranges and population sizes.

a , Living (or surviving) and locally extinct species after a simulation of 30 time steps with increasing disturbance and climate change. The x and y axes show the initial range and population sizes of the species (log 10 transformed), respectively. The size of the circles is proportional to the resilience of each species to anthropogenic disturbance, with smaller circles representing more sensitive species. b , Cumulative number of species encompassed in the ten protected units (5 × 5 cells) selected on the basis of a policy optimized to minimize species loss. The grey density plot shows the expected distribution from 10,000 random draws, and the purple shaded area shows the expected distribution when protected units are selected ‘naively’ (here, randomly chosen from among the top 20 most diverse units). The dashed red line indicates the number of species included in the units selected by the optimized CAPTAIN policy, which is higher than in all the random draws. The optimized policy learned to maximize the total number of species included in protected units, thus accounting for their complementarity. Note that fewer species survived (421) in this simulation compared with how many were included in protected areas (447). This discrepancy is due to the effect of climate change, in which area protection does not play a role 47 (see also www.captain-project.net ). c , Species richness across the 100 protection units included in the area (blue), ten of which were selected to be protected (orange). The plot shows that the protection policy does not exclusively target units with the highest diversity.

We further assessed what characterizes the grid cells that are selected for protection by the optimized policy. The cumulative number of species included in these cells is significantly higher than the cumulative species richness across a random set of cells of equal area (Fig. 4b ). Thus, the model learns to protect a diversity of species assemblages to minimize species loss. Interestingly, the cells selected for protection did not include only areas with the highest species richness (Fig. 4c ).

Benchmarking through simulations

We evaluated our simulation framework by comparing its performance in optimizing policies with that of the current state-of-the-art tool for conservation prioritization, Marxan 23 . The methods differ conceptually in that while CAPTAIN is explicitly designed to minimize loss (for example, local species extinction) within the constraints of a limited budget, Marxan’s default algorithms minimize the cost of reaching a conservation target (for example, protecting at least 10% of all species ranges). Additionally, Marxan is typically used to optimize the placement of protected units in a single step, while CAPTAIN places the protection units across different time steps.

To compare the two models, we set up all Marxan analyses with an explicit budget constraint, following other tailored implementations 15 , 32 (see Methods ). In a first comparison, we tested a protection policy in which all protection units (within a predefined budget) are established in one step. To this end, we trained an additional model in CAPTAIN based on a full initial monitoring and on a policy in which all budget for protection is spent in one step. The analysis of 250 simulations showed that CAPTAIN outperforms Marxan in 64% of the cases with an average improvement in terms of prevented species loss of 9.2% (Fig. 5 ).

The violin plots show the distribution of species loss outcomes across 250 simulations run under different monitoring policies based on the CAPTAIN framework developed here and on Marxan 23 . Species loss is expressed as a percentage of the total initial number of species in the simulated systems. See text for details of the analyses. The white circle in each box represents the median, the top and bottom of each box represent the 75th and 25th percentiles, respectively, and the whiskers are extended to 1.5× the interquartile range.

In a second comparison, we used CAPTAIN with full recurrent monitoring and allowed the establishment of a single protection unit per time step for both programs (see Methods ). Under this condition, our model outperforms Marxan in 77.2% of the simulations with an average reduction of species loss of 18.5% (Fig. 5 ).

Empirical applications

To demonstrate the applicability of our framework and its scalability to large, real-world tasks, we analysed a Madagascar biodiversity dataset recently used in a systematic conservation planning experiment 33 under Marxan 23 . The dataset included 22,394 protection units (5 × 5 km) and presence/absence data for 1,517 endemic tree species. The cost of area protection was set proportional to anthropogenic disturbance across cells, as in the original publication 33 (see Methods for more details and Supplementary Fig. 5 ).

We analysed the data assuming full initial monitoring in a static setting in which all protection units were placed in one step. We limited the budget to an amount that allows the protection of at most 10% of the units (or fewer if expensive units are chosen) and set the target of preserving at least 10% of the species’ potential range within protected units. We repeated the Marxan analyses with a boundary length multiplier (BLM; which penalizes the placement of many isolated protection units in favour of larger contiguous areas; BLM = 0.1, as in ref. 33 ) and without it (BLM = 0 for comparability with CAPTAIN, which does not include this feature).

The solutions found in CAPTAIN consistently outperform those obtained with Marxan. Within the budget constraints, CAPTAIN solutions meet the target of protecting 10% of the range for all species in 68% of the replicates, whereas only up to 2% of the Marxan results reach that target (Supplementary Table 4 ). Additionally, with CAPTAIN, a median of 22% of each species range is found within protected units, well above the set target of 10% and the 14% median protected range achieved with Marxan (Fig. 6c,d and Supplementary Fig. 6c,d ). Importantly, CAPTAIN is able to identify priority areas for conservation at higher and therefore more interpretable spatial resolution (Fig. 6b and Supplementary Fig. 6b ).

a , b , Maps showing the ranking of priority areas for protection across Madagascar based on the distribution of endemic trees and on a limited budget allowing for up to 10% of protected area overall: protection units identified through Marxan optimizations (with BLM = 0.1, as in Carrasco et al. 33 ; a ) and equivalent CAPTAIN results based on a full initial monitoring policy ( b ). The colour scale represents the relative importance of each protected unit, measured as the frequency at which it was included in the optimized solution. c , d , Histograms of the fraction of species ranges included in the protected units calculated for each species with Marxan ( c ) and CAPTAIN ( d ). The red dashed lines indicate the 10% threshold set as the target of the policy. Orange bars show species whose protection did not meet the target.

We have presented here a new framework to optimize dynamic conservation policies using RL and evaluate their biodiversity outcome through simulations.

Data gathering and monitoring

Our finding that even simple data (presence/absence of species) are sufficient to inform effective policies (Fig. 2 and Supplementary Table 3 ) is noteworthy because the information required is already available for many regions and taxonomic groups, and could be further complemented by modern technologies such as remote sensing and environmental DNA, and for accessible locations also citizen science 34 in cost-efficient ways (Supplementary Box 2 ).

The reason why single biodiversity assessments and area protection are often suboptimal is that they ignore the temporal dynamics caused by disturbances, population and range changes of species, all of which are likely to change through time in real-world situations. Although some systems may remain largely static over decades (for example, tree species in old-growth forests), others may change drastically (for example, alpine meadows or shallow-sea communities, where species shift their ranges rapidly in response to climatic and anthropogenic pressures); all such parameters can be tuned in our simulated system and accounted for in training the models through RL. Because current methodologies for systematic conservation planning are static, relying on a similar initial data gathering as modelled here, their recommendations for area protection may be less reliable.

Our results indicate clear trade-offs, meaning that optimizing one value can be at the cost of another (Fig. 3 and Supplementary Table 3 ). In particular, our finding that maximizing total protected area can lead to substantial species loss is of urgent relevance, given that total protected area has been at the core of previous international targets for biodiversity (such as the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, https://www.cbd.int/sp/targets ) and remains a key focus under the new post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework under the Convention on Biological Diversity. Focusing on quantity (area protected) rather than quality (actual biodiversity protected) could inadvertently support political pressure for ‘residual’ reservation 35 , 36 , that is, the selection of new protected areas on land and at sea that are unsuitable for extractive activities, which may reduce costs and risk of conflicts, but are likely suboptimal for biodiversity conservation. Our trade-off analyses imply that economic value and total protected area should not be used as surrogates for biodiversity protection.

Learning from the models

Examination of our results reveals that, perhaps contrary to intuition, protected areas should not be primarily chosen based on high species richness (a ‘naive’ conservation target; Fig. 4 ). Instead, the simulations indicate that protected cells should span a range of areas with intermediate to high species richness, reflecting known differences between ecosystems or across environmental gradients. Such selection is more likely to increase protection complementarity for multiple species, a key factor incorporated in our software and some others 10 , 23 , 37 .

Applications and prospects

Our successful benchmarking against random, naive and Marxan-optimized solutions indicates that CAPTAIN has potential as a useful tool for informing on-the-ground decisions by landowners and policymakers. Models trained through simulations in CAPTAIN can be readily applied to available empirical datasets.

In our experiments, CAPTAIN solutions outperform Marxan, even when based on the same input data, as in the example of Malagasy trees. Our simulations show that further improvement is expected when additional data describing the state of the system are used, and when the protection policy is developed over time rather than in a single step. These findings indicate that our AI parametric approach can (1) more efficiently use the available information on species distribution and (2) more easily integrate multidimensional and time-varying biodiversity data. As the number of standardized high-resolution biological datasets is increasing (for example, see ref. 38 ), as a result of new and cost-effective monitoring technologies (Supplementary Box 2 ), our approach offers a future-proof tool for research, conservation and the sustainable use of natural resources. Our model can be easily expanded and adapted to almost any empirical dataset and to incorporate additional variables, such as functional diversity and more sophisticated measures of economic value. Similarly, the flexibility of our AI approach allows for the design of custom policy objectives, such as optimizing carbon sequestration and storage.

In contrast to many short-lived decisions by governments, the selection of which areas in a country’s territory should be protected will have long-term repercussions. Protecting the right areas, or developing sustainable models of using biodiversity without putting species at risk, will help safeguard natural assets and their contributions for the future. Choosing suboptimal areas for protection, by contrast, could not only waste public funding, but also lead to the loss of species, phylogenetic diversity, socioeconomic value and ecological functions. AI techniques should not replace human judgement, and ultimately investment decisions will be based on more than just the parameters implemented in our models, including careful consideration of people’s manifold interactions with nature 1 , 8 . It is also crucial to recognize the importance of ensuring the right conditions required for effective conservation of protected areas in the long term 39 , 40 . However, it is now time to acknowledge that the sheer complexity of sociobiological systems, multiplied by the increasing disturbances in a changing world, cannot be fully grasped by the human mind. As we progress in what many are calling the most decisive decade for nature 9 , 41 , we must take advantage of powerful tools that help us steward the planet’s remaining ecosystems in sustainable ways—for the benefit of people and all life on Earth.

A biodiversity simulation framework

We have developed a simulation framework modelling biodiversity loss to optimize and validate conservation policies (in this context, decisions about data gathering and area protection across a landscape) using an RL algorithm. We implemented a spatially explicit individual-based simulation to assess future biodiversity changes based on natural processes of mortality, replacement and dispersal. Our framework also incorporates anthropogenic processes such as habitat modifications, selective removal of a species, rapid climate change and existing conservation efforts. The simulation can include thousands of species and millions of individuals and track population sizes and species distributions and how they are affected by anthropogenic activity and climate change (for a detailed description of the model and its parameters see Supplementary Methods and Supplementary Table 1 ).

In our model, anthropogenic disturbance has the effect of altering the natural mortality rates on a species-specific level, which depends on the sensitivity of the species. It also affects the total number of individuals (the carrying capacity) of any species that can inhabit a spatial unit. Because sensitivity to disturbance differs among species, the relative abundance of species in each cell changes after adding disturbance and upon reaching the new equilibrium. The effect of climate change is modelled as locally affecting the mortality of individuals based on species-specific climatic tolerances. As a result, more tolerant or warmer-adapted species will tend to replace sensitive species in a warming environment, thus inducing range shifts, contraction or expansion across species depending on their climatic tolerance and dispersal ability.

We use time-forward simulations of biodiversity in time and space, with increasing anthropogenic disturbance through time, to optimize conservation policies and assess their performance. Along with a representation of the natural and anthropogenic evolution of the system, our framework includes an agent (that is, the policy maker) taking two types of actions: (1) monitoring, which provides information about the current state of biodiversity of the system, and (2) protecting, which uses that information to select areas for protection from anthropogenic disturbance. The monitoring policy defines the level of detail and temporal resolution of biodiversity surveys. At a minimal level, these include species lists for each cell, whereas more detailed surveys provide counts of population size for each species. The protection policy is informed by the results of monitoring and selects protected areas in which further anthropogenic disturbance is maintained at an arbitrarily low value (Fig. 1 ). Because the total number of areas that can be protected is limited by a finite budget, we use an RL algorithm 42 to optimize how to perform the protecting actions based on the information provided by monitoring, such that it minimizes species loss or other criteria depending on the policy.

We provide a full description of the simulation system in the Supplementary Methods . In the sections below we present the optimization algorithm, describe the experiments carried out to validate our framework and demonstrate its use with an empirical dataset.

Conservation planning within a reinforcement learning framework

In our model we use RL to optimize a conservation policy under a predefined policy objective (for example, to minimize the loss of biodiversity or maximize the extent of protected area). The CAPTAIN framework includes a space of actions, namely monitoring and protecting, that are optimized to maximize a reward R . The reward defines the optimality criterion of the simulation and can be quantified as the cumulative value of species that do not go extinct throughout the timeframe evaluated in the simulation. If the value is set equal across all species, the RL algorithm will minimize overall species extinctions. However, different definitions of value can be used to minimize loss based on evolutionary distinctiveness of species (for example, minimizing phylogenetic diversity loss), or their ecosystem or economic value. Alternatively, the reward can be set equal to the amount of protected area, in which case the RL algorithm maximizes the number of cells protected from disturbance, regardless of which species occur there. The amount of area that can be protected through the protecting action is determined by a budget B t and by the cost of protection \({C}_{t}^{c}\) , which can vary across cells c and through time t .

The granularity of monitoring and protecting actions is based on spatial units that may include one or more cells and which we define as the protection units. In our system, protection units are adjacent, non-overlapping areas of equal size (Fig. 1 ) that can be protected at a cost that cumulates the costs of all cells included in the unit.

The monitoring action collects information within each protection unit about the state of the system S t , which includes species abundances and geographic distribution:

where H t is the matrix with the number of individuals across species and cells, D t and F t are matrices describing anthropogenic disturbance on the system, T t is a matrix quantifying climate, C t is the cost matrix, P t is the current protection matrix and B t is the available budget (for more details see Supplementary Methods and Supplementary Table 1 ). We define as feature extraction the result of a function X ( S t ), which returns for each protection unit a set of features summarizing the state of the system in the unit. The number and selection of features ( Supplementary Methods and Supplementary Table 2 ) depends on the monitoring policy π X , which is decided a priori in the simulation. A predefined monitoring policy also determines the temporal frequency of this action throughout the simulation, for example, only at the first time step or repeated at each time step. The features extracted for each unit represent the input upon which a protecting action can take place, if the budget allows for it, following a protection policy π Y . These features (listed in Supplementary Table 2 ) include the number of species that are not already protected in other units, the number of rare species and the cost of the unit relative to the remaining budget. Different subsets of these features are used depending on the monitoring policy and on the optimality criterion of the protection policy π Y .

We do not assume species-specific sensitivities to disturbance (parameters d s , f s in Supplementary Table 1 and Supplementary Methods ) to be known features, because a precise estimation of these parameters in an empirical case would require targeted experiments, which we consider unfeasible across a large number of species. Instead, species-specific sensitivities can be learned from the system through the observation of changes in the relative abundances of species ( x 3 in Supplementary Table 2 ). The features tested across different policies are specified in the subsection Experiments below and in the Supplementary Methods .

The protecting action selects a protection unit and resets the disturbance in the included cells to an arbitrarily low level. A protected unit is also immune from future anthropogenic disturbance increases, but protection does not prevent climate change in the unit. The model can include a buffer area along the perimeter of a protected unit, in which the level of protection is lower than in the centre, to mimic the generally negative edge effects in protected areas (for example, higher vulnerability to extreme weather). Although protecting a disturbed area theoretically allows it to return to its initial biodiversity levels, population growth and species composition of the protected area will still be controlled by the death–replacement–dispersal processes described above, as well as by the state of neighbouring areas. Thus, protecting an area that has already undergone biodiversity loss may not result in the restoration of its original biodiversity levels.

The protecting action has a cost determined by the cumulative cost of all cells in the selected protection unit. The cost of protection can be set equal across all cells and constant through time. Alternatively, it can be defined as a function of the current level of anthropogenic disturbance in the cell. The cost of each protecting action is taken from a predetermined finite budget and a unit can be protected only if the remaining budget allows it.

Policy definition and optimization algorithm

We frame the optimization problem as a stochastic control problem where the state of the system S t evolves through time as described in the section above (see also Supplementary Methods ), but it is also influenced by a set of discrete actions determined by the protection policy π Y . The protection policy is a probabilistic policy: for a given set of policy parameters and an input state, the policy outputs an array of probabilities associated with all possible protecting actions. While optimizing the model, we extract actions according to the probabilities produced by the policy to make sure that we explore the space of actions. When we run experiments with a fixed policy instead, we choose the action with highest probability. The input state is transformed by the feature extraction function X ( S t ) defined by the monitoring policy, and the features are mapped to a probability through a neural network with the architecture described below.

In our simulations, we fix monitoring policy π X , thus predefining the frequency of monitoring (for example, at each time step or only at the first time step) and the amount of information produced by X ( S t ), and we optimize π Y , which determines how to best use the available budget to maximize the reward. Each action A has a cost, defined by the function Cost( A , S t ), which here we set to zero for the monitoring action ( X ) across all monitoring policies. The cost of the protecting action ( Y ) is instead set to the cumulative cost of all cells in the selected protection unit. In the simulations presented here, unless otherwise specified, the protection policy can only add one protected unit at each time step, if the budget allows, that is if Cost( Y , S t ) <  B t .

The protection policy is parametrized as a feed-forward neural network with a hidden layer using a rectified linear unit (ReLU) activation function (Eq. ( 3 )) and an output layer using a softmax function (Eq. ( 5 )). The input of the neural network is a matrix x of J features extracted through the most recent monitoring across U protection units. The output, of size U , is a vector of probabilities, which provides the basis to select a unit for protection. Given a number of nodes L , the hidden layer h (1) is a matrix U  ×  L :

where u ∈ {1, …, U } identifies the protection unit, l ∈ {1, …, L } indicates the hidden nodes and j ∈ {1, …, J } the features and where

is the ReLU activation function. We indicate with W (1) the matrix of J ×  L coefficients (shared among all protection units) that we are optimizing. Additional hidden layers can be added to the model between the input and the output layer. The output layer takes h (1) as input and gives an output vector of U variables:

where σ is a softmax function:

We interpret the output vector of U variables as the probability of protecting the unit u .

This architecture implements parameter sharing across all protection units when connecting the input nodes to the hidden layer; this reduces the dimensionality of the problem at the cost of losing some spatial information, which we encode in the feature extraction function. The natural next step would be to use a convolutional layer to discover relevant shape and space features instead of using a feature extraction function. To define a baseline for comparisons in the experiments described below, we also define a random protection policy \({\hat{\pi }}\) , which sets a uniform probability to protect units that have not yet been protected. This policy does not include any trainable parameter and relies on feature x 6 (an indicator variable for protected units; Supplementary Table 2 ) to randomly select the proposed unit for protection.

The optimization algorithm implemented in CAPTAIN optimizes the parameters of a neural network such that they maximize the expected reward resulting from the protecting actions. With this aim, we implemented a combination of standard algorithms using a genetic strategies algorithm 43 and incorporating aspects of classical policy gradient methods such as an advantage function 44 . Specifically, our algorithm is an implementation of the Parallelized Evolution Strategies 43 , in which two phases are repeated across several iterations (hereafter, epochs) until convergence. In the first phase, the policy parameters are randomly perturbed and then evaluated by running one full episode of the environment, that is, a full simulation with the system evolving for a predefined number of steps. In the second phase, the results from different runs are combined and the parameters updated following a stochastic gradient estimate 43 . We performed several runs in parallel on different workers (for example, processing units) and aggregated the results before updating the parameters. To improve the convergence we followed the standard approach used in policy optimization algorithms 44 , where the parameter update is linked to an advantage function A as opposed to the return alone (Eq. ( 6 )). Our advantage function measures the improvement of the running reward (weighted average of rewards across different epochs) with respect to the last reward. Thus, our algorithm optimizes a policy without the need to compute gradients and allowing for easy parallelization. Each epoch in our algorithm works as:

  for every worker p do

   \({\epsilon }_{p}\leftarrow {{{\mathcal{N}}}}(0,\sigma )\) , with diagonal covariance and dimension W  +  M

   for t  = 1,..., T do

    R t  ←  R t −1  +  r t ( θ  +  ϵ p )

  R  ← average of R T across workers

  R e  ←  α R  + (1 −  α ) R e −1

  for every coefficient θ in W  +  M do

   θ  ←  θ  +  λ A ( R e , R T , ϵ )

where \({\mathcal{N}}\) is a normal distribution and W + M is the number of parameters in the model (following the notation in Supplementary Table 1 ). We indicate with r t the reward at time t , with R the cumulative reward over T time steps. R e is the running average reward calculated as an exponential moving average where α = 0.25 represents the degree of weighting decrease and R e −1 is the running average reward at the previous epoch. λ  = 0.1 is a learning rate and A is an advantage function defined as the average of final reward increments with respect to the running average reward R e on every worker p weighted by the corresponding noise ϵ p :

Experiments

We used our CAPTAIN framework to explore the properties of our model and the effect of different policies through simulations. Specifically, we ran three sets of experiments. The first set aimed at assessing the effectiveness of different policies optimized to minimize species loss based on different monitoring strategies. We ran a second set of simulations to determine how policies optimized to minimize value loss or maximize the amount of protected area may impact species loss. Finally, we compared the performance of the CAPTAIN models against the state-of-the-art method for conservation planning (Marxan 25 ). A detailed description of the settings we used in our experiments is provided in the Supplementary Methods . Additionally, all scripts used to run CAPTAIN and Marxan analyses are provided as Supplementary Information .

Analysis of Madagascar endemic tree diversity

We analysed a recently published 33 dataset of 1,517 tree species endemic to Madagascar, for which presence/absence data had been approximated through species distribution models across 22,394 units of 5 × 5 km spanning the entire country (Supplementary Fig. 5a ). Their analyses included a spatial quantification of threats affecting the local conservation of species and assumed the cost of each protection unit as proportional to its level of threat (Supplementary Fig. 5b ), similarly to how our CAPTAIN framework models protection costs as proportional to anthropogenic disturbance.

We re-analysed these data within a limited budget, allowing for a maximum of 10% of the units with the lowest cost to be protected (that is, 2,239 units). This figure can actually be lower if the optimized solution includes units with higher cost. We did not include temporal dynamics in our analysis, instead choosing to simply monitor the system once to generate the features used by CAPTAIN and Marxan to place the protected units. Because the dataset did not include abundance data, the features only included species presence/absence information in each unit and the cost of the unit.

Because the presence of a species in the input data represents a theoretical expectation based on species distribution modelling, it does not consider the fact that strong anthropogenic pressure on a unit (for example, clearing a forest) might result in the local disappearance of some of the species. We therefore considered the potential effect of disturbance in the monitoring step. Specifically, in the absence of more detailed data about the actual presence or absence of species, we initialized the sensitivity of each species to anthropogenic disturbance as a random draw from a uniform distribution \({d}_{s} \sim {{{\mathcal{U}}}}(0,1)\) and we modelled the presence of a species s in a unit c as a random draw from a binomial distribution with a parameter set equal to \({p}_{s}^{c}=1-{d}_{s}\times {D}^{c}\) , where D c   ∈  [0, 1] is the disturbance (or ‘threat’ sensu Carrasco et al. 33 ) in the unit. Under this approach, most of the species expected to live in a unit are considered to be present if the unit is undisturbed. Conversely, many (especially sensitive) species are assumed to be absent from units with high anthropogenic disturbance. This resampled diversity was used for feature extraction in the monitoring steps (Fig. 1c ). While this approach is an approximation of how species might respond to anthropogenic pressure, the use of additional empirical data on species-specific sensitivity to disturbance can provide a more realistic input in the CAPTAIN analysis.

We repeated this random resampling 50 times and analysed the resulting biodiversity data in CAPTAIN using the one-time protection model, trained through simulations in the experiments described in the previous section and in the Supplementary Methods . We note that it is possible, and perhaps desirable, in principle to train a new model specifically for this empirical dataset or at least fine-tune a model pretrained through simulations (a technique known as transfer learning), for instance, using historical time series and future projections of land use and climate change. Yet, our experiment shows that even a model trained solely using simulated datasets can be successfully applied to empirical data. Following Carrasco et al. 33 , we set as the target of our policy the protection of at least 10% of each species range. To achieve this in CAPTAIN, we modified the monitoring action such that a species is counted as protected only when at least 10% of its range falls within already protected units. We ran the CAPTAIN analysis for a single step, in which all protection units are established.

We analysed the same resampled datasets using Marxan with the initial budget used in the CAPTAIN analyses and under two configurations. First, we used a BLM (BLM = 0.1) to penalize the establishment of non-adjacent protected units following the settings used in Carrasco et al. 33 . After some testing, as suggested in Marxan’s manual 45 , we set penalties on exceeding the budget, such that the cost of the optimized results indeed does not exceed the total budget (THRESHPEN1  =  500, THRESHPEN2  =  10). For each resampled dataset we ran 100 optimizations (with Marxan settings NUMITNS = 1,000,000, STARTTEMP = –1 and NUMTEMP = 10,000 (ref. 45 ) and used the best of them as the final result. Second, because the BLM adds a constraint that does not have a direct equivalent in the CAPTAIN model, we also repeated the analyses without it (BLM = 0) for comparison.

To assess the performance of CAPTAIN and compare it with that of Marxan, we computed the fraction of replicates in which the target was met for all species, the average number of species for which the target was missed and the number of protected units (Supplementary Table 4 ). We also calculated the fraction of each species range included in protected units to compare it with the target of 10% (Fig. 6c,d and Supplementary Fig. 6c,d ). Finally, we calculated the frequency at which each unit was selected for protection across the 50 resampled datasets as a measure of its relative importance (priority) in the conservation plan.

Reporting Summary

Further information on research design is available in the Nature Research Reporting Summary linked to this article.

Data availability

All data necessary to run the analyses presented here are available in a permanent repository on Zenodo 46 .

Code availability

The CAPTAIN software is implemented in Python v.3 and is available at captain-project.net . All scripts and data necessary to run the analyses presented here are available in a permanent repository on Zenodo 46 .

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Acknowledgements

We thank K. Johannesson for the initial discussions that sparked this project, B. Groom, A. Moilanen, B. Pressey, K. Dhanjal-Adams and I. Bateman for invaluable feedback on an earlier version of this manuscript, J. Carrasco for providing the Madagascar tree distribution data, J. Moat for input on remote sensing technologies, W. Testo for suggesting the acronym CAPTAIN, R. Smith for editorial support, G. Dudas for coding support and the many colleagues in our respective research groups for discussions. A.A. is funded by the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (FFL15-0196), the Swedish Research Council (VR 2019-05191) and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. T.S. and A.A. acknowledge funding from the Strategic Research Area Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in a Changing Climate, BECC, funded by the Swedish government. D.S. received funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation (PCEFP3_187012) and the Swedish Research Council (VR: 2019-04739).

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These authors contributed equally: Daniele Silvestro, Alexandre Antonelli.

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Department of Biology, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland

Daniele Silvestro

Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Fribourg, Switzerland

Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden

Daniele Silvestro & Alexandre Antonelli

Thymia, London, UK

Stefano Goria

Department of Economics, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden

Thomas Sterner

Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

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Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK

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T.S. initiated the project with A.A. D.S. and S.G. developed the AI model and performed all analyses. A.A., D.S., T.S. and S.G. wrote the paper.

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Protecting Biodiversity Means Saving the Bogs (and Peatlands, Swamps, Marshes, Fens…)

Wetlands cover just 6 percent of the planet’s land area but provide habitat for 40 percent of wildlife.

Dawn breaks over a cypress swamp in Arkansas.

Barry Hamilton/Alamy

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As it does every year, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) will be evaluating plant and animal species to determine which ones deserve federal protection under the Endangered Species Act. About half of the species chosen for analysis so far in 2024 have something in common: Their futures depend on the conservation of wetlands. 

A mere coincidence? Probably not. 

While wetlands cover just 6 percent of the earth’s land surface area, they provide habitat for a whopping 40 percent of plants and animals . 

In all likelihood, we can expect this trend of wetland-dependent species coming under the protection of the Endangered Species Act to continue, predicts Amy McNamara , a freshwater ecosystems strategist for NRDC. But this, she says, “is something that we should work to avoid at all costs.” After all, protecting wetlands before its inhabitants are at the edge of extinction would benefit plants, animals, and humans alike. 

The importance of wetlands 

More than a third of the 1,300-plus plants and animals currently on the Endangered Species list live their entire lives in wetlands. Meanwhile, nearly half of listed species use wetlands as stopover points during migrations. In this way, these areas help connect far-flung habitats to one another, with healthy wetlands in one place being able to give a boost to ecosystems even in other hemispheres. Birds, especially, rely on such stopovers. 

“Wetlands and birds are so inextricably linked,” says McNamara. In fact, wetlands serve as homes and migration refueling places to one out of three bird species worldwide. “And up to one-third of North American bird species nest or feed in wetlands.”

Migrating sandhill cranes stop over in California’s Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta.

Florence Low/California Department of Water Resources

But wetlands provide much more than shelter and nutrition. For instance, while wetlands can offer refuge for wildlife fleeing wildfires, they also slow fires down. And to top it all off, they help filter ash, sediment, and other fire-related contaminants before they wash downstream. 

To the list of services that wetlands provide, McNamara adds, “They filter pollution. They filter our drinking water. They’re really critical in absorbing water when it floods.” 

What is a wetland, exactly?

Wetlands come in many forms, all of which are important habitats. Coastal saltwater marshes, full of tasty blue crabs and majestic bald eagles, are wetlands, as are freshwater areas, including lakes, ponds, fens, and wet prairies. These types of wetlands tend to teem with waterfowl, cranes, frogs, and turtles galore.

Meanwhile, nontidal marshes are the most prevalent and widely distributed wetlands in North America. They can be deep enough to get your socks wet while wearing knee-high boots or shallow enough to walk through in flip flops.

Some wetlands can also be a bit wishy-washy—here one month and gone the next. Meadows high up in the mountains, for instance, hold surface water when the snow melts, creating high-country habitat for birds, frogs, and occasionally, even beaver and otters. Out on the Great Plains, there are also seasonal prairie potholes and playa lakes that can dry up at certain times of the year. 

Shallow, ephemeral wetlands dot North Dakota’s prairie pothole region, which is known as the "Duck Factory."

Krista Lundgren/USFWS

There are also riverine wetlands alongside rivers and streams. While humans have sought to tame, tidy, and otherwise obliterate these riparian areas, we do so at our own peril. 

But for some reason, something about wetlands seems to give humans the ick. We shudder as the heroes of our stories enter places like the Swamps of Sadness, the Bog of Eternal Stench, and the Fire Swamp. We talk about getting bogged down, in the weeds, or stuck in the mud. And our actions reflect all that anti-wetland mumbo jumbo too. 

“Right now, in the continental United States, we’ve already destroyed more than half the wetlands that existed prior to European colonization,” says McNamara. In fact, a 2019 FWS report found that, in just the previous 10 years, the national rate of wetland loss had increased by more than 50 percent.

And we soon stand to lose more. Just last year, the U.S. Supreme Court gutted the Clean Water Act’s wetlands protections . The ruling narrowed the decades-old understanding of which wetlands the act legally protects, delivering a catastrophic blow to any wetlands that don’t connect to other bodies of water at the surface—a decision that runs counter to hydrological science.

“Unfortunately, we tend to think wetlands get in the way of ‘progress’—and I put   progress in quotes,” says McNamara. “We have ditched and drained wetlands, and straightened rivers that have historically fed many wetlands. We wrongly view wetlands as a problem that we need to get rid of.”

Wetland species in need of Endangered Species protection

And after centuries of treating wetlands as expendable, the consequences to biodiversity are apparent. Just take a look at some of the latest contenders for the Endangered Species list. 

A swarm of Southwest spring fireflies flash in the night sky.

Scott Cylwick

The Southwest spring firefly ( Bicellonycha wickershamorum wickershamorum ) lights up the night with a series of five green, bioluminescent flashes in a row. Like many firefly species, this beetle can only exist where there are wetlands and riparian areas. One reason for this is, when searching for female fireflies, the males walk, sometimes single file, along the edges of streams, springs, and desert oases called ciénegas .

Climate change, cattle grazing, farming, and light pollution all contribute to the loss or degradation of the firefly’s habitat, threatening its continued existence—matters made worse by the fact that the species is found in just 27 localities in southern Arizona, one of which may already be kaput.

“All firefly species deserve conservation efforts, especially those facing precarious situations or living in niche environments,” says Orit Peleg , a computational biophysicist who studies fireflies at the University of Colorado Boulder. According to the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), one in three North American fireflies may be in danger of extinction.

Protecting the Southwest spring firefly would also get a lot of conservation bang for the buck, because it would safeguard countless other species that share its habitat.

“The wetland areas we surveyed were captivating,” says Peleg of a study about this firefly that was recently published in the journal  Nature . “The environment was alive with the sound of summer insects, frogs, and birds, offering an experience that was both engaging and deeply moving.”

Like the Southwest spring firefly, two species of betta fish ( Betta hendra  and B. rutilans ) are also considered to be umbrella species , which are those whose conservation protects many others in an ecosystem. Native to Indonesia’s peat swamp forests, the bettas are similar to the so-called Siamese fighting fish that are bred for pet stores. Both of these colorful betta species are imperiled in the wilds of Borneo due to logging, fire, and all that comes with the rampant conversion of these forests into palm oil plantations. 

But conserving the bettas’ habitats wouldn’t just protect orangutans, clouded leopards, langurs, crocodiles, and pangolins; it’d also go far in the fight against climate change. This is because peat swamp forests sequester vast stores of carbon . In fact, scientists estimate that the habitats of these fish lock up more than 69 billion tons of carbon. To put that figure into perspective, total fossil fuel emissions across the globe in 2023 accounted for 41 billion tons of carbon.

Living in a single wetland complex in Nye County, Nevada, the Railroad Valley toad was only just discovered by scientists in 2020.

Timoteo_b via inaturalist, CC BY-NC 4.0

Back in the United States, the Railroad Valley toad ( Anaxyrus nevadensis ) of Nye County, Nevada, is in particularly dire straits. Named after a single wetland complex that’s fed by a thermal spring, the toad was only just discovered in 2020.

“The service determined that threats to the species include oil and gas extraction and groundwater pumping associated with lithium production, which could alter the quantity and quality of spring flow to the wetlands,” says Anne Mankowski, assistant field supervisor for the FWS’s field office in Reno, Nevada. 

The amphibian shares its habitat with a federally threatened species known as the Railroad Valley springfish, and research shows that all six of its close toad cousins in the Great Basin region are either imperiled or critically imperiled. While the FWS has yet to fully assess the population, the Railroad Valley toad is certainly not the only rarity hopping around Nevada’s wetlands. And with drought continuing to plague the Southwest, these wet spaces—and the benefits they provide to toads, fish, fireflies, and humans alike—are more precious than ever. 

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NPR defends its journalism after senior editor says it has lost the public's trust

David Folkenflik

NPR is defending its journalism and integrity after a senior editor wrote an essay accusing it of losing the public's trust. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

NPR is defending its journalism and integrity after a senior editor wrote an essay accusing it of losing the public's trust.

NPR's top news executive defended its journalism and its commitment to reflecting a diverse array of views on Tuesday after a senior NPR editor wrote a broad critique of how the network has covered some of the most important stories of the age.

"An open-minded spirit no longer exists within NPR, and now, predictably, we don't have an audience that reflects America," writes Uri Berliner.

A strategic emphasis on diversity and inclusion on the basis of race, ethnicity and sexual orientation, promoted by NPR's former CEO, John Lansing, has fed "the absence of viewpoint diversity," Berliner writes.

NPR's chief news executive, Edith Chapin, wrote in a memo to staff Tuesday afternoon that she and the news leadership team strongly reject Berliner's assessment.

"We're proud to stand behind the exceptional work that our desks and shows do to cover a wide range of challenging stories," she wrote. "We believe that inclusion — among our staff, with our sourcing, and in our overall coverage — is critical to telling the nuanced stories of this country and our world."

NPR names tech executive Katherine Maher to lead in turbulent era

She added, "None of our work is above scrutiny or critique. We must have vigorous discussions in the newsroom about how we serve the public as a whole."

A spokesperson for NPR said Chapin, who also serves as the network's chief content officer, would have no further comment.

Praised by NPR's critics

Berliner is a senior editor on NPR's Business Desk. (Disclosure: I, too, am part of the Business Desk, and Berliner has edited many of my past stories. He did not see any version of this article or participate in its preparation before it was posted publicly.)

Berliner's essay , titled "I've Been at NPR for 25 years. Here's How We Lost America's Trust," was published by The Free Press, a website that has welcomed journalists who have concluded that mainstream news outlets have become reflexively liberal.

Berliner writes that as a Subaru-driving, Sarah Lawrence College graduate who "was raised by a lesbian peace activist mother ," he fits the mold of a loyal NPR fan.

Yet Berliner says NPR's news coverage has fallen short on some of the most controversial stories of recent years, from the question of whether former President Donald Trump colluded with Russia in the 2016 election, to the origins of the virus that causes COVID-19, to the significance and provenance of emails leaked from a laptop owned by Hunter Biden weeks before the 2020 election. In addition, he blasted NPR's coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict.

On each of these stories, Berliner asserts, NPR has suffered from groupthink due to too little diversity of viewpoints in the newsroom.

The essay ricocheted Tuesday around conservative media , with some labeling Berliner a whistleblower . Others picked it up on social media, including Elon Musk, who has lambasted NPR for leaving his social media site, X. (Musk emailed another NPR reporter a link to Berliner's article with a gibe that the reporter was a "quisling" — a World War II reference to someone who collaborates with the enemy.)

When asked for further comment late Tuesday, Berliner declined, saying the essay spoke for itself.

The arguments he raises — and counters — have percolated across U.S. newsrooms in recent years. The #MeToo sexual harassment scandals of 2016 and 2017 forced newsrooms to listen to and heed more junior colleagues. The social justice movement prompted by the killing of George Floyd in 2020 inspired a reckoning in many places. Newsroom leaders often appeared to stand on shaky ground.

Leaders at many newsrooms, including top editors at The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times , lost their jobs. Legendary Washington Post Executive Editor Martin Baron wrote in his memoir that he feared his bonds with the staff were "frayed beyond repair," especially over the degree of self-expression his journalists expected to exert on social media, before he decided to step down in early 2021.

Since then, Baron and others — including leaders of some of these newsrooms — have suggested that the pendulum has swung too far.

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Legendary editor marty baron describes his 'collision of power' with trump and bezos.

New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger warned last year against journalists embracing a stance of what he calls "one-side-ism": "where journalists are demonstrating that they're on the side of the righteous."

"I really think that that can create blind spots and echo chambers," he said.

Internal arguments at The Times over the strength of its reporting on accusations that Hamas engaged in sexual assaults as part of a strategy for its Oct. 7 attack on Israel erupted publicly . The paper conducted an investigation to determine the source of a leak over a planned episode of the paper's podcast The Daily on the subject, which months later has not been released. The newsroom guild accused the paper of "targeted interrogation" of journalists of Middle Eastern descent.

Heated pushback in NPR's newsroom

Given Berliner's account of private conversations, several NPR journalists question whether they can now trust him with unguarded assessments about stories in real time. Others express frustration that he had not sought out comment in advance of publication. Berliner acknowledged to me that for this story, he did not seek NPR's approval to publish the piece, nor did he give the network advance notice.

Some of Berliner's NPR colleagues are responding heatedly. Fernando Alfonso, a senior supervising editor for digital news, wrote that he wholeheartedly rejected Berliner's critique of the coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict, for which NPR's journalists, like their peers, periodically put themselves at risk.

Alfonso also took issue with Berliner's concern over the focus on diversity at NPR.

"As a person of color who has often worked in newsrooms with little to no people who look like me, the efforts NPR has made to diversify its workforce and its sources are unique and appropriate given the news industry's long-standing lack of diversity," Alfonso says. "These efforts should be celebrated and not denigrated as Uri has done."

After this story was first published, Berliner contested Alfonso's characterization, saying his criticism of NPR is about the lack of diversity of viewpoints, not its diversity itself.

"I never criticized NPR's priority of achieving a more diverse workforce in terms of race, ethnicity and sexual orientation. I have not 'denigrated' NPR's newsroom diversity goals," Berliner said. "That's wrong."

Questions of diversity

Under former CEO John Lansing, NPR made increasing diversity, both of its staff and its audience, its "North Star" mission. Berliner says in the essay that NPR failed to consider broader diversity of viewpoint, noting, "In D.C., where NPR is headquartered and many of us live, I found 87 registered Democrats working in editorial positions and zero Republicans."

Berliner cited audience estimates that suggested a concurrent falloff in listening by Republicans. (The number of people listening to NPR broadcasts and terrestrial radio broadly has declined since the start of the pandemic.)

Former NPR vice president for news and ombudsman Jeffrey Dvorkin tweeted , "I know Uri. He's not wrong."

Others questioned Berliner's logic. "This probably gets causality somewhat backward," tweeted Semafor Washington editor Jordan Weissmann . "I'd guess that a lot of NPR listeners who voted for [Mitt] Romney have changed how they identify politically."

Similarly, Nieman Lab founder Joshua Benton suggested the rise of Trump alienated many NPR-appreciating Republicans from the GOP.

In recent years, NPR has greatly enhanced the percentage of people of color in its workforce and its executive ranks. Four out of 10 staffers are people of color; nearly half of NPR's leadership team identifies as Black, Asian or Latino.

"The philosophy is: Do you want to serve all of America and make sure it sounds like all of America, or not?" Lansing, who stepped down last month, says in response to Berliner's piece. "I'd welcome the argument against that."

"On radio, we were really lagging in our representation of an audience that makes us look like what America looks like today," Lansing says. The U.S. looks and sounds a lot different than it did in 1971, when NPR's first show was broadcast, Lansing says.

A network spokesperson says new NPR CEO Katherine Maher supports Chapin and her response to Berliner's critique.

The spokesperson says that Maher "believes that it's a healthy thing for a public service newsroom to engage in rigorous consideration of the needs of our audiences, including where we serve our mission well and where we can serve it better."

Disclosure: This story was reported and written by NPR Media Correspondent David Folkenflik and edited by Deputy Business Editor Emily Kopp and Managing Editor Gerry Holmes. Under NPR's protocol for reporting on itself, no NPR corporate official or news executive reviewed this story before it was posted publicly.

BREAKING: Arizona state House passes bill to repeal 1864 near-total abortion ban

Senior NPR editor resigns after accusing outlet of liberal bias

An editor for National Public Radio resigned Wednesday just days after he inflamed the ongoing culture war about mainstream media with an essay about what he considers the news outlet’s liberal leanings.

Uri Berliner, who was a senior business editor, wrote an essay for the right-leaning online publication The Free Press in which he said he believes NPR is losing the public’s trust. 

NPR, a nonprofit radio network, has an “absence of viewpoint diversity,” he wrote in the essay, which was published April 9. It “has always had a liberal bent,” but now an “open-minded spirit no longer exists within NPR,” he wrote.  

The essay triggered a wave of scrutiny of NPR from conservatives, some of whom responded to it with calls to defund the news organization, which receives federal funding through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. NPR says on its website that federal funding is “essential” to NPR but that “less than 1% of NPR’s annual operating budget comes in the form of grants from CPB and federal agencies and departments.”

In a resignation statement on X, Berliner briefly elaborated on the reason for his departure, which came days after NPR reported that it had suspended him for five days without pay following the op-ed’s release. 

NPR’s chief business editor, Pallavi Gogoi, had told Berliner about its requirement to secure approval before he appeared in outside media, according to NPR’s report.

“I don’t support calls to defund NPR,” Berliner wrote. “I respect the integrity of my colleagues and wish for NPR to thrive and do important journalism.  But I cannot work in a newsroom where I am disparaged by a new CEO whose divisive views confirm the very problems at NPR I cite in my Free Press essay.” 

Berliner did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday. A representative for NPR said it “does not comment on individual personnel matters.” 

Berliner’s essay gained traction on X, with many conservatives homing in on his thoughts about NPR’s political makeup. He wrote: “In D.C., where NPR is headquartered and many of us live, I found 87 registered Democrats working in editorial positions and zero Republicans. None.” 

He also criticized NPR’s coverage, or lack thereof, of certain stories, such as the Mueller report, Hunter Biden’s laptop, the origins of Covid-19 and systemic racism following the murder of George Floyd.

High-profile supporters of Berliner’s essay, including former President Donald Trump and X owner Elon Musk, shared criticism of NPR and its CEO, Katherine Maher. 

“NO MORE FUNDING FOR NPR, A TOTAL SCAM! EDITOR SAID THEY HAVE NO REPUBLICANS, AND IS ONLY USED TO ‘DAMAGE TRUMP.’ THEY ARE A LIBERAL DISINFORMATION MACHINE. NOT ONE DOLLAR!!!” Trump wrote on Truth Social on April 10.

Musk wrote on X that the “head of NPR hates the Constitution of the USA” in response to a clip of Maher discussing the challenges in fighting disinformation and honoring the First Amendment right to free speech.

Meanwhile, some journalists at NPR pushed back against Berliner’s accusations.

“Morning Edition” co-host Steve Inskeep shared his take in a post on his Substack newsletter , saying he believes Berliner failed to “engage anyone who had a different point of view.”

“Having been asked, I answered: my colleague’s article was filled with errors and omissions,” he wrote, adding, “The errors do make NPR look bad, because it’s embarrassing that an NPR journalist would make so many.”

NPR’s chief news executive, Edith Chapin, also denied Berliner’s assessment of the newsroom in a memo to staff members, according to NPR .

“We’re proud to stand behind the exceptional work that our desks and shows do to cover a wide range of challenging stories,” she wrote. “We believe that inclusion — among our staff, with our sourcing, and in our overall coverage — is critical to telling the nuanced stories of this country and our world.”

Maher also said Monday in a statement to NPR : “In America everyone is entitled to free speech as a private citizen. What matters is NPR’s work and my commitment as its CEO: public service, editorial independence, and the mission to serve all of the American public. NPR is independent, beholden to no party, and without commercial interests.”

Daysia Tolentino is a culture and trends reporter for NBC News.