Current Events Blog: Biodiversity

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jul/14/biodiversity-below-safe-levels-across-over-half-of-worlds-land-study

Topic: Biodiversity – Loss, Preservation, and Conservation

According to the Guardian, habitat destruction has decreased biodiversity so much that it could negatively impact agriculture, human health, and the economies of many countries. Scientists place the blame on humans destroying habitats to use as farmland. According to an international study published in Science, biodiversity has fallen below the safety limit of a loss of 10% in over 50% of the world’s land. The article goes on to discuss the worries of many scientists and researchers who warn about what the decrease in biodiversity could mean for the world and how while there is no way to know for sure how much biodiversity loss is too much, we should make efforts to conserve biodiversity. I think the author and the researchers and scientists mentioned in the article make valid points and agree that more efforts need to be made to protect biodiversity. Although no one is sure of how much biodiversity is needed in order to maintain balance and a healthy environment, it is important to keep biodiversity as great as possible so that we never find out since we know that the consequences of too little biodiversity would be extreme. However, I couldn’t help but wonder exactly how much biodiversity is needed in the world and why the safety limit was set at 10%. Although I asked how much biodiversity is needed, I think that biodiversity should be maximized and out goal should not just be to stay barely above the minimum. Instead of the 10% safety limit, I think the goal should be set higher to ensure that biodiversity is conserved and that more should be done to enforce this limit. If it went below the assigned safety limit once, more should be done to make sure that biodiversity is preserved in the future and make sure this event does not repeat itself or become a trend. For example, laws should be passed that restrict habitat destruction for use of farmland and even more importantly, these new and currently existing laws should be enforced by the government in order to ensure the preservation and conservation of biodiversity.