Biodiversity is a word
coined by the zoologist E O Wilson to summarise the
phrase 'biological diversity'. It encompasses the whole range of variation in
living organisms: genetic variation, species variation and ecosystem variation.
In other words - the variety of life.
Life on earth has evolved
over millions of years and is now expressed through a
complex series of ecological interactions which create habitats and support
species. The inter-dependence of species underpins the complex diversity of
life which exists across the planet and includes people as just one part of the
system. Increasingly, the management of habitats and wildlife is necessary to
maintain local biodiversity.
It has been said that
as species are driven to extinction and habitats are
destroyed, we are carrying out a very dangerous ecological experiment. We are
drastically altering a biological system which we do not fully understand. If we
allow ecological change to continue at the headlong pace of recent decades,
we are taking a big risk with our futures. The management of biological diversity
is an issue which is in all our interests to take seriously.
Conserving biodiversity
is not just about rare and threatened species and
habitats. All those who care about the countryside, who notice when a butterfly
visits their garden, when a bird sings or when the autumn tints appear in the
woods and hedgerows, whether they know it or not, are appreciating
biodiversity. The quality of our lives is intimately bound up with the maintenance
of biodiversity.
There is a danger that
the public and decision-makers might think that
biodiversity is only found somewhere else or that it is somebody else's problem -
this is not true. Global biodiversity is the sum of local biodiversity. The United
Kingdom (UK) must conserve biodiversity within its own territories and take
account of its actions abroad.
The importance of biodiversity
conservation, in its various forms, is well
recognised by the UK public. The strength of voluntary conservation
organisations also reflects this recognition. However, success at all levels of
action depends on producing workable management plans for sites and
species that are aimed at measurable attainable targets. A targeted
management plan is also important to direct limited resources to where they can
do the most good, with monitoring of performance indicators and reporting
systems that network the outcomes.
