Biodiversity Loss: Consequences, Causes, and How You Can Help
Biodiversity, short for biological diversity, comprises all living species and organisms. To be more precise, the term pertains to the variety of living things in a specific area—from bacteria, fungi, and insects to plants and animals, their population per species, and the balance of these communities of species.
Areas with year-round warm weather have “high biodiversity.” Places like the Amazon rainforest—where at least 40,000 different plant species thrive—and regions close to the Equator are the most biologically diverse. Meanwhile, other places like the Arctic have “low biodiversity.”
Although extinction is a natural process, human activity has accelerated damage. Read on to learn more about biodiversity decline, its drivers, consequences, and humanity’s role in stewarding what remains.
Biodiversity Loss and Its Consequences
The Earth is home to about 8.7 million species, and new species are still being discovered yearly. In 2023, London’s Natural History Museum uncovered over 800 new species.
However, members of the plant and animal kingdoms are disappearing at an alarming rate. A 2023 study showed that 73 species of mammals, birds, amphibians, and reptiles have become extinct since 1500. The report pointed out that “extinction rates are 35 times higher than expected background rates prevailing in the last million years under the absence of human impacts.”
On the Red List website, the International Union for Conservation of Nature says that over 45,300 species are at risk of extinction. Amphibians, corals, and cycads (cone-bearing woody plants) are among the most threatened groups.
On the local front, the latest State of Nature report by the National Biodiversity Network (NBN) Trust indicates a 19% decline in the UK’s number of species since monitoring began in 1970. Birds (43%) made up the most vulnerable group, followed by amphibians and reptiles (31%). Fungi and lichen (28%) and terrestrial mammals (26%) also experienced sharp declines.
Meanwhile, here are the top 10 nations worldwide with the highest threatened species population based on 2023 data.
Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1275491/most-endangered-species-by-country/
The World Economic Forum (WEF) identified these countries as the world’s 17 most megadiverse nations. The other locations with extreme biodiversity are China, Congo, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Venezuela, and South Africa.
Amid these developments, biodiversity loss is ranked among the highest global risks by severity: #20 in the next two years but #3 in the next 10 years, according to WEF’s Global Risks Report 2024.
Source: https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_The_Global_Risks_Report_2024.pdf
How Biodiversity Loss Impacts Us
Biodiversity loss affects the natural environment and the humans depending on it. Some of its long-term and far-reaching consequences are:
· Ecological imbalance
Ecosystems can adapt to declining biodiversity to some extent. However, they are eventually disrupted or may even collapse when few or no species take on interactions or roles previously played by many and various species. Nutrient cycling, plant pollination, seed dispersal, and predator-prey relationships go out of whack with the disappearance of plants and animals.
· Reduced carbon dioxide storage
While half of greenhouse gases stay in the atmosphere, land and oceans absorb the other half. A 2023 study said that natural forests could absorb as much as 226 billion metric tonnes of CO2 (1 gigatonne/Gt = 1 billion metric tonne) if none disappear due to deforestation. Meanwhile, another research showed that the combined global forest cover absorbed 7.6 billion metric tonnes of CO2 from 2001 to 2019. Thus, ecosystems and the biodiversity they contain can naturally mitigate global warming.
Here are the storage contributions of the world’s forests based on a 2023 study featured in Nature.
Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06723-z/figures/5
Meanwhile, the chart below shows the carbon dioxide uptake of the Earth’s water bodies.
· Animal-borne diseases and the decline in raw medicinal sources
In a 2024 study co-authored by University of Notre Dame biologist Jason Rohr, biodiversity loss emerged as a primary driver of infectious disease spread. Rohr explained to the media that reduced biodiversity due to human activity can lead to the spread of infection from pathogens and parasites, as more “competent” carriers thrive and rarer creatures are wiped out. Moreover, habitat loss and climate change can increase the likelihood of disease transmission as the two factors force animals to move closer to each other and humans.
Losing the natural ingredients needed for modern and traditional medicine also puts human health in peril. Tree bark and plant roots contribute to 40% of pharmaceutical products today. Moreover, about 70% of cancer drugs come from nature.
· Food insecurity
As insect populations decline by 1% to 2% annually, birds, fish, and small mammals lose their source of food. This loss also paralyses insect pollination, which people rely on for growing crops and wildflowers for food. Meanwhile, pest dominance destroys these resources. Lower biodiversity can affect soil and plant health, which farmers compensate for through agrochemicals that can damage human health.
6 Reasons Behind Biodiversity Decline
What are the key factors that have plunged biodiversity into a crisis? Let us look at six of them:
1. Land-use change
The fragmentation and destruction of natural plant and animal habitats pose the biggest threat to land, freshwater, and sea species. The World Wide Fund for Nature’s biennial Living Planet Report 2022 illustrates how human consumption impacts the biosphere, which comprises the Earth’s life-sustaining areas.
2. Pollution
· Chemical pollution
Pollution occurs when harmful or poisonous substances or energy are introduced into the environment. Pesticides applied to flowers and plants do not only kill unwanted insects. They also eliminate beneficial ones that act as these pests’ natural enemies. Moreover, pesticides reduce the food supply for predators. When surface runoff brings agricultural pesticides and fertilisers to water bodies, these substances cause algae overgrowth (eutrophication). This new vegetation consumes the oxygen in water and prevents underwater plants from getting sunlight, leading to the latter’s eventual death.
· Air pollution
At the same time, nitrogen oxides and ammonia in fertilisers—also emitted by livestock, transport vehicles, and power stations—pollute the air. They do not only cause global warming but also harm beneficial insects like bees and wasps. Air pollution blocks scents—which these creatures depend on to find flowers, hunt prey, and mate—from travelling as far as they should. Polluted air also weakens their immune system and brain functioning.
· Plastic pollution
Plastic waste is another major pollutant, up to two million tonnes of which end up in oceans annually. Some marine animals that ingest them can throw up or pass them through their systems. But creatures that can’t suffer from health issues, reducing appetites as plastics block their digestive system. Rough or sharp plastic debris can cause internal bleeding or infection.
3. Population growth
The global population has reached almost 8.2 billion as of mid-2024, up from 3.7 billion in 1970. The increase has put a strain on our planet, with over 80% of people residing in nations with ecological deficits, consuming more resources than what their ecosystems can produce.
The Global Footprint Network and its partners identified the countries with reserves or deficits in biocapacity. This refers to the capability of a nation’s ecosystems to produce resources people use and to absorb human-generated waste material. Meanwhile, ecological footprint refers to how much productive land and water a population needs to attain the resources for consumption and absorb the waste it generates. The table below names the locations with a biocapacity deficit, including the United Kingdom (-240%).
Source: https://data.footprintnetwork.org/?_ga=2.247182212.1653755084.1726766834-308636256.1726766834#/
Moreover, scientists forecast that the growth and spread of human numbers globally will lead to a “human-wildlife overlap.” This sharing of crowded landscapes will cover 56.6% of all land areas by 2070, according to the research published in the Science Advances journal. The overlap will be highest in Africa (70.6%) and South America (66.5%).
4. Exploitation of natural resources
The demands of rapid population growth have led to extracting and consuming more of the Earth’s resources than can be replaced naturally. Unsustainable fishing, hunting, and the wildlife trade are examples of exploitative practices.
Overexploitation is a top threat to migratory species, 44% of which are on the decline based on the latest records of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS). Nearly 450 CMS-listed species and 1,498 species overall are under threat due to overexploitation.
5. Climate change
Rising temperatures expose species to unfamiliar and often extreme conditions that disrupt their behaviours and natural habitats. For example, oceans are becoming more acidic due to global warming, leading to mass coral bleaching. Meanwhile, climate change has led to an increase in female sea turtle hatchlings. That’s because eggs incubated in warmer parts of their nesting grounds become females, while eggs in cooler parts become males. This imbalance threatens the future reproductive success of the species.
6. Invasive species
A new report by the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services revealed that over 3,500 of the more than 37,000 alien species (microorganisms, fungi, plants, and animals) introduced by human activities are invasive types. These harmful alien species were a major factor in 60% and the only factor in 16% of plant and animal extinctions worldwide.
Source: https://www.ipbes.net/IASmediarelease
Wildlife Conservation: UK and International Steps
The UK is among the 196 UN member-signatories to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) signed in 1992, calling for the sustainable use of biodiversity. England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales have individually identified priority species and habitats for conservation since then.
In 2021, the Environment Act set commitments to be carried out across England for the next 25 years. They include requiring a 10% “biodiversity net gain” or creating new habitats for building projects as part of targets to increase species, boost tree and woodland cover, and restore Marine Protected Areas. The 25-year plan became known as the Environment Improvement Plan in 2023.
However, the Office for Environmental Protection declared in January 2024 that the government was “largely off track” of its targets. The regulatory watchdog overseeing England and Northern Ireland added that the government was more likely to fulfil only 10% of its targets.
The 80-member Wildlife and Countryside Link also believes national leaders can do more. Ahead of the July 2024 general polls, this coalition of charities called on political parties to lay out their conservation plans. WWF UK, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, The Wildlife Trusts, and The National Trust are some of the groups in this network. Two months later, over 1,000 scientists held a march outside Parliament in support of the swift passage of the Climate and Nature Bill, which intends to involve all parts of government to address the crisis.
Turning to international action, CBD members adopted a Global Biodiversity Framework with 23 targets for 2030 during their 2022 meeting. Meanwhile, in 2024, over 300 corporations and market service providers across industries worldwide formally agreed to report on conservation efforts after joining the Taskforce on Nature-Related Financial Disclosures.
Make a Difference: Live Sustainably
Our lifestyle choices can reduce pollution, making the environment safer for flora and fauna. Here are seven tips to consider:
- Choose organic and seasonal produce and grains.
- Use paper bags and purchase fewer products in plastic packaging. Choose reusable or sustainable alternatives and recycling methods.
- Avoid food waste by freezing leftovers before they spoil and only buying the amount you will eat.
- Stop using synthetic pesticides and fertilisers and compost food scraps.
- Wash laundry with ecological detergents and softeners.
- Monitor pets while they’re outdoors to prevent them from hunting wildlife.
- Support local and regional projects, businesses, institutions, and political initiatives that aim to restore and protect biodiversity.
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