Economics of biodiversity
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Biodiversity plays an essential role in the global economy. [1] This includes its role in providing ecosystem services - the benefits that humans get from ecosystems. Biodiversity plays a major role in the productivity and functioning of ecosystems, affects their ability to provide ecosystem services.[2] For example, biodiversity is a source of food, medication, and materials used in industry. Recreation and tourism are also examples of human economic activities that rely on these benefits. In 2018, the WWF Living Planet Report estimated that ecosystem services contributed US$125 trillion a year to the global economy.[3]
The benefits of biodiversity are often evaluated in an anthropocentric way and the inherent value of biodiversity, outside of its benefits to humanity, has been debated by economists.[4][5] Despite these benefits, economic activities often result in harm to biodiversity, such as through deforestation.[1]
The majority of species have yet to be evaluated for their current or future economic importance.[6] Raw materials, pharmaceuticals and drug production all directly and indirectly depend upon biodiversity.[6]
Food
[edit]Biodiversity provides high variety of food: crops, livestock, forestry, and fish are important food source of human species. However, the number of species have been domesticated and cultivated are small if comparing with the number of species existing. Wild species and varieties can supply genes for improving domesticated species by improving their yield, disease resistance, tolerance and vigor; this can increase the profit of farming.
Biological pest control
[edit]
Using control species is often considered as more environmentally friendly method with compared with using pesticides. The control species can be used to protect the crops against pests and weeds. The economic loss due to the loss of crops/food can be reduced with the use of the control species.
Also, the population of disease vectors (for example, mosquitoes) and the invasive species can be controlled; thus, the economic loss led by the invasive species and vectors can be reduced.
However, even with extensive research into the control species, their use is a risky business, as in the importation of the cane toad to control beetles in Queensland.
Medication
[edit]A wide variety of plants, animals and fungi are used as medicine. Wild plant species have been used for medicinal purposes since before the beginning of recorded history. Over 60% of world population depends on the plant medicines for their primary health care.[7] For example, quinine comes from the cinchona tree has been used to treat malaria, digitalis from the foxglove plant treats chronic heart trouble, and morphine from the poppy plant gives pain relief.
According to the National Cancer Institute, over 70% of the promising anti-cancer drugs come from plants in the tropical rainforests. It is estimated that of the 250,000 known plant species, only 5,000 have been researched for possible medical applications. Ethnopharmacy is the branch of science that investigates traditional medicines.
Animals may also play a role, in particular in research. In traditional remedies, animals are extensively used as drugs. Many animals also medicate themselves. Zoopharmacognosy is the study of how animals use plants, insects and other inorganic materials in self-medicatation. In an interview with the late Neil Campbell, Eloy Rodriguez describes the importance of biodiversity:
"Some of the compounds we've identified by zoopharmacognosy kill parasitic worms, and some of these chemicals may be useful against tumors. There is no question that the templates for most drugs are in the natural world."[8]
Industry
[edit]For example, fibers for clothing, wood for shelter and warmth. Biodiversity may be a source of energy (such as biomass). Other industrial products are oils, lubricants, perfumes, fragrances, dyes, paper, waxes, rubber, latexes, resins, poisons, and cork, which can all be derived from various plant species. Supplies from animal origin include wool, silk, fur, leather, lubricants, and waxes.
Animals may also be used as a mode of transport.
Biological material can provide models for many industrial materials and structures. For example, the inspiration for the infrared sensor came from the thermosensitive pit organ of rattlesnake. The modelling is considered as Biomimicry.
Recreational harvesting
[edit]Various animals are harvested for display and as pet; many species of plants are harvested for personal and private gardening.
In Britain alone, some 65,000 species are sold for horticulture[citation needed]. It has been suggested that this form of ex-situ conservation may be the most practical form in the future.
Tourism and recreation
[edit]Biodiversity is a source of economic wealth for many regions of the world, such as many nature reserves, parks and forests, where wildlife and plants are sources of beauty and joy for many people. Ecotourism, in particular, is a growing outdoor recreational activity. In 2023, the global ecotourism market was estimated to be worth US$ 216.49 billion.[9]
See also
[edit]- Biodiversity Action Plan
- Biodiversity finance/The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity
- Environmental economics
- Endangered Species Recovery Plan
- Ecosystem services
References
[edit]- ^ a b Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA), Ecosystems and human well-being: synthesis, Island Press, Washington, DC, 2005, p. 137.
- ^ Tilman, David; Isbell, Forest; Cowles, Jane M. (2014-11-23). "Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning". Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics. 45 (1): 471–493. doi:10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-120213-091917. ISSN 1543-592X.
- ^ WWF. 2018. Living Planet Report - 2018: Aiming Higher. Grooten, M. and Almond, R.E.A.(Eds). WWF, Gland, Switzerland.
- ^ Gómez-Baggethun, Erik; de Groot, Rudolf; Lomas, Pedro L.; Montes, Carlos (2009-12-13). "The history of ecosystem services in economic theory and practice: From early notions to markets and payment schemes". Ecological Economics. 69 (6): 1209–1218. doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2009.11.007.
- ^ Seddon, Nathalie; Mace, Georgina M.; Naeem, Shahid; Tobias, Joseph A.; Pigot, Alex L.; Cavanagh, Rachel; Mouillot, David; Vause, James; Walpole, Matt (2016-11-01). "Biodiversity in the Anthropocene: prospects and policy". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 283 (1844): 20162094. doi:10.1098/rspb.2016.2094. ISSN 0962-8452. PMC 5204156. PMID 27928040.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: PMC format (link) - ^ a b Gascon, Claude, Thomas M. Brooks, Topiltzin Contreras-MacBeath, Nicolas Heard, William Konstant, John Lamoreux, Frederic Launay, Michael Maunder, Russell A. Mittermeier, Sanjay Molur, Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak, Michael J. Parr, Anders G. J. Rhodin, Anthony B. Rylands, Pritpal Soorae, James G. Sanderson, and Jean-Christophe Vié. 2015. ‘The Importance and Benefits of Species’. Current Biology 25(10): R431–38. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2015.03.041.
- ^ Kevin J. Gaston & John I. Spicer. 2004. Biodiversity: an introduction, Blackwell Publishing. 2nd Ed. ISBN 1-4051-1857-1
- ^ Campbell, N. A. (1996) Biology (4th edition). Benjamin Cummings NY. p.23 ISBN 0-8053-1957-3
- ^ "Ecotourism Market Size, Share, Growth | Various Trends [2032]". www.fortunebusinessinsights.com. Retrieved 2024-07-19.