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Biodiversity & Economics
Allison Gill
Molly Williams
Shannon Scott
Shannon Sutherland
Human development has fundamentally changed the nature of the biotic
environment in which we live. Industrialization and economic growth have
increased habitat and resource use, changing the distribution and
concentration of biological species, a disturbance that has had profound
implications for human well-being in our developming world. The extent
biodiversity loss is staggaring, and clearly indicates our crucial
responsibility to work to protect the precarious continued success of the
millions of species with whom we share our globe.
The United Nations Environment Program has declared 2010 as the
International Year of Biodiversity, in order for both governments and
citizens to take a chance to reflect upon the crucial need to protect the
biodiversity of our planet. At the end of the 20th century,
intergovernmental organizations set 2010 as a timepoint by which the
international community would reduce the rate of biodiversity loss across
the globe. While the goals set forth at this time have largely not been
reached the UNEP have taken this opportunity to call global citizens to
recognize the roll biodiversity plays in their everyday lives.
http://www.unep.org/iyb/
What is
?
Biodiversity refers generally to variability within
the living environment. It encompasses the
variability of plant and animal species, the
variability of the genetic makup of those
species, and the variability of the ecosystems
in which the species interact.
Preserving biodiversity is crucially important
to human society. It allows us to maintain
and preserve the structure of our current
habitats and ecosystems, as well as the
economic systems and industries which they
support.
Global Biodiversity Loss
What Causes Biodiversity Loss?
Large Scale Conventional Agriculture
Globalization and Large-scale
Conventional Agriculture
Impacts of Biodiversity Loss
Environmental critics often argue that
protecting biodiversity is a secondary
issue that should not be a central
concern in light of more pressing
global problems such as poverty and
and widespread hunger in developing
countries.
http://www.sdsurfeco.com/pages/rainforest.htm
The reality is, however, that protecting
and maintaining the biodiversity of the
earth’s varied ecosystems and
habitats is critical to human health and
livlihood across the globe.
http://www.nature-escapes-kualalumpur.com/forest-pictures.html
The loss of biodiverstiy has the potential to affect human and
environmental well-being in a myriad of ways.
Loss of Genetic Diversity
Even if species do not directly go extinct,
habitat loss can reduce population size,
reducing the genetic diversity of a group of
interbreeding individuals and forming what is
called a “population bottleneck.” Bottleneck
populations have a higher incidence of
homozygosity – or having two identical
alleles at a single locus. Heavily
homozygous populations express more
deleterious recessive genes and alleles,
leading to a reduction in the overall fitness
of the population, and sometimes,
extinction.
Allele – an alternative form of a
gene located in a specific
position on a specific
chromosome
Recessive
Trait – a trait
that requires
two copies of
the gene to be
present in
order to appear
in the
phenotype
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~sjjgsca
/DNAmutation.html
Fitness – an individual’s ability to
reproduce, or the proportion of an
individual’s genes in the next
generation
Both traditional and
conventional medicine relies
directly on the availability of
medicinal plant species,
however between 15,000 and
50,000 of the known medicinal
species are currently
threatened with extinction
(Edwards 2009).
http://www.travelblog.org/Wallpaper/waterfall_l
uang_prabang.html
http://fm2.fieldmuseum.org/plantguides/guid
eimages.asp?ID=259
Loss of Medicinal Plants
The distribution and availability of plant
and animal species also impacts
ecosystem nutrient cycling, natural water
purification processes, and flood control.
As we lose these natural ecosystem
services, we are forced to replace them
with artificial solutions, further
exacerbating the problems associated
with habitat destruction and species loss.
Biodiversity loss also threatens
human economic activity by
destroying the resources millions of
people rely upon for their own lives
and livlihoods.
http://library.thinkquest.org/10805/map.html
http://echeng.com/journal/i
mages/misc/echengjellyfish-lake-palau.jpg
Threats to Economic Industries
For example, the creation and
subsequent expansion of the Suez
Canal has resulted in the transport and
invasion of marine species from the Red
Sea to the northern waters of the
Mediterranean (Galil 2006). Facilitated
by the warming waters, these invasive
species have proliferated in the
Mediterranean, and fundamentally
changed the fishing industry in Southern
European costal communities (Galil
2006). Introduced jellyfish have
flourished at the expense of marketable
fish, forcing many fishermen to seek
other means of income (Galil 2006).
Cost of Global Biodiversity Losses
While the relative merits of
assigning monetary values to the
worth of protecting biodiversity
remain controversial, the
Economics of Ecosystems and
Biodiversity was a European
group formed to bring awareness
to both the costs and benefits of
preserving biodiversity – as well
as the inherent costs associated
with its loss.
You can check out their website
at: http://www.teebweb.org/
The EEB estimates that the about 50
billion euros of biodiversity-providing
ecosystems are lost each year
http://liquidthinker.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/
coral-reef.jpg
The group also estimates that
biodiversity loss will be worth
a total of 14 TRILLION Euros
by 2050.
Biodiversity loss also affects different
economic sectors and populations
differently. Developing areas and
peoples rely on ecosystem services
and resources for a much greater
proportion of their economic activity
than developed countries, and
therefore sustain the impacts and
costs to a much higher degree.
Percentage of GDP Dependent on
Ecosystem Services in Developed
and Developing Areas in India
7.3%
Developed Areas
57%
Devloping Areas
From: GIST’s Green Accounting for Indian
States Project, 2002-03 data
Valuation of Biodiversity
• What is the Valuation process?
Biodiversity and the Market Systems
What Is Being Done Now
Strategies For Control
The Future
• What is being done, what can be done for the future,
what degree it is effective, is what is being done now
enough (both national and international)?