Biodiversity & Our Livelihoods

Key Connections at Stake

Jan 30, 2023

Understanding climate change is seen to be of critical importance, particularly in the headlines we read every day. However, details connecting intricate concepts, such as biodiversity and land management, to our livelihood are less frequently discussed. To this end, this post seeks to explore connections of biodiversity to key aspects of our lives, and implications of climate change on biodiversity, as well as the downstream impact that we may experience.

For this discussion, biodiversity is the variety between and among species, both flora and fauna, as well as the range of roles these species play. The overall health and stability of a given ecosystem is based on a multitude of factors, many of which are directly impacted by decreasing biodiversity. This is important for several reasons. First, our agricultural system is reliant on procurement, consumption, and renewal occurring on a cyclical basis, for example seasons, not one-off occurrences. Second, our raw resources are obtained from the many distinct, yet interconnected, ecosystems of our world. Lastly, our homes are built for a specific set of circumstances, held in balance by a diverse local environment.

To maintain a stable and robust agroecosystem, high importance must be placed on maintaining diversity within crops and native edible plants. If high biodiversity is maintained, the system has a stronger ability to adjust when faced with extreme weather, changes to weather patterns, as well as any pests or pathogens. With uniform strains of crops being used with a focus on increasing yield and farmability, there is a greater risk for disruptions to our food supply if the ecosystem is disrupted or changed.

As discussed in Gains and Losses of Agricultural Food Production: Implications for the Twenty-First Century, uniform agricultural crops also lead to measurable declines in important nutritional components such as dietary fiber, a wild carbohydrates profile, and micronutrients. With a reduction in such key components of healthy diets, there will be significant effects on public health and medical costs will likely increase. Similarly, current medicinal plant populations are decreasing and there are high rates of extinction. With this reduction in diversity and abundance, both traditional medicines and plant derived components for modern medicines will become less available. There is also evidence these important plants will be less resilient against stressors such as pests or pathogens, habitat destruction or fragmentation, and invasive species. It is suggested that there may be a change in the phytochemical content of some medicinal plants due to these changes, causing decreases in the efficacy.

We rely on many raw materials and resources which can only be sourced from unique ecosystems. These areas rely on stability and a specific set of circumstances (i.e. weather, specific flora/fauna) to produce the raw resource that we utilize. Some relevant examples are logs, mined materials, water, and cotton. Without these specific circumstances being met or with breakdown of the biodiversity which supports the overall health and stability of the system, humans will no longer have access to these materials and plants.

There are already widespread changes in both weather patterns and the number and intensity of extreme weather events in context of concurrent declines in biodiversity. The combination of these factors is creating major changes at the local level, leading to less security for our homes and our energy sources. For example, consider the recent flooding in California which is destroying people’s homes, causing power outages, negatively impacting jobs and services, as well as disrupting the typical ecosystem of the area. Another example is the recent loss of access to water in a town in Arizona. This was in a newly developed area, that unfortunately relied on access to an already overburdened water supply. With severe water shortages due to a prolonged megadrought, they were cut off from the supply and are now having to pay much higher amounts to have water trucked to them. This is a stark reminder that although we can develop new spaces for homes, we still rely on certain natural services to survive.

It is easy to find many other examples where human homes and businesses were lost or abandoned due to extreme weather events or because they’ve lost access to core resources like water or energy. There are even instances where the ecosystem was so completely changed that there was no longer local access to core raw resources. Without healthy ecosystems which are diverse and well-functioning, we will continue to see negative impacts on our livelihoods and homes.

We are not too late. If we work together quickly and foster better relationships with the nature all around us, we can help to maintain biodiversity and reduce the impacts of climate change on our future generations. We can take steps individually and collectively such as growing native plants, creating spaces (however small) for native wildlife/birds/pollinators, reducing the amount of waste we produce, and finding other areas to “green” our lives. This will help, but it will also take bigger and more impactful actions from our political leaders, companies, and local governments to stop the major loss to the diversity of our flora and fauna. We need those in positions of power to implement policy and land management based on validated science. In order to protect the biodiversity we depend upon for many aspects of our lives, we must make sure those able to create the largest impacts are diligently working to protect our planet now.

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Biodiversity & Our Livelihoods

Key Connections at Stake

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