2025.04.02
Biodiversity refers, as the name suggests, to the variety of all living organisms on Earth. Broadly speaking, biodiversity encompasses species diversity, ecosystem diversity, and genetic diversity — with species diversity, covering the wide range of animals, plants, and even microorganisms around us, being the most commonly understood dimension. But biodiversity does not end with species diversity. Equal importance is placed on the diversity of interactions between living and non-living components across the many ecosystems of the Earth's environment — mountains, rivers, lakes, deserts, forests, wetlands, and farmlands alike. Genetic diversity is also essential, as it has enabled humanity to increase the productive capacity of natural resources. Genetics research can, however, carry unintended consequences, and studies into genetic variation within organisms and its potential effects on humans are ongoing.
[Biodiversity ⓒESG.ONL]
The abundance of food, clothing, and shelter that humanity enjoys today is built upon this biodiversity. Yet the severity of the climate crisis and the effects of environmental change are now threatening it, signaling a deterioration in the health of the Earth's ecosystems — which are, of course, directly connected to and mutually influential on human life. To protect biodiversity, the international community has sustained collaborative efforts from the 1992 UN Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro through to the 16th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), held in Rome this year.
by Editor O