May 22 is International Day for Biodiversity. It’s a day that has been set aside by the United Nations to celebrate biodiversity on the earth. Biodiversity is so important that without this concept and ideology, there will be no life on earth.
When God created the earth, He made various life forms which include plants, insects, land animals, aquatic animals, terrestrial animals and human beings. All these life forms can be found on land, water and in the air. So, then biodiversity can be defined as the variation or the variability of life on earth. And there are different types of biodiversity namely: genetic biodiversity which occurs within species. Secondly, there is species biodiversity which occurs between species. Then, finally we have the ecosystem biodiversity which is between ecosystems.
The three levels of biodiversity are also genetic biodiversity, species biodiversity and ecosystems biodiversity. These, however, explain the variability or variation of life on earth. Variation can also be explained as ‘variety’ too. In other words, it is the variety of the expression of life in the various forms as we see it.
Biodiversity creates beauty. When we study the animal kingdom for example, there are several kinds of animals: land, aquatic(water) and terrestrial(air). No two birds are alike; we have an abundant species of birds. So, it is with fish and other sea animals. There is an abundant species of fish and other aquatic animals. And these vary from region to region; country to country; continent to continent. The same goes for plants, flowers, shrubs and vegetation cover in general.
The ecosystems are not left out. There are various ecosystems such as land, soils, rivers, lakes, streams, oceans and seas. There’s also the atmosphere and the solar system itself. These natural ecosystems also vary from coast to coast; region to region, country to country, continent to continent.
Take for instance, the forest ecosystem, the kind of forests you find on the African continent varies largely from others you find in Asia or Europe. Tropical rain forests which characterize the African forest ecosystem differs greatly from the temperate forests in Europe and North America.
In recent times, however, biodiversity has been on the decline as a result of the activities of man. Indiscriminate hunting of animals especially in Africa; incessant felling of trees; overfishing of our oceans and seas; excavation and mining of minerals and petroleum crude oil from deep beneath the earth’s surface which has left surface waters polluted and land degraded,, have contributed immensely to the loss of biodiversity. We are also losing species of birds dying from air pollution and oil pollution of our oceans and seas.
It’s time to restore our natural ecosystems again. When we stop devouring our oceans and forests, there’s a probability that certain species of plants and animals can be saved from total extinction. And even those which are already near extinction, can be made to reproduce after their kind, if the right steps and measures are taken to implement the right strategies which will prevent more biodiversity loss.
P.S:
For six years now, I have been on this journey to bridge the divide between man and his impact on the environment. My aim has been to proffer better ways we can save our environment from the state it’s currently in, to a healthier and better place where we can live, work and play without fear or harm to ourselves and also to the environment.
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