Biodiversity

Biodiversity refers to the variety of life on Earth, reaching from the smallest genes to complex ecosystems, including all type of plants and animals. Biodiversity is beneficial to all of us in many different ways. It is part of our identity, culture and our global economy and has an influence on our physical health.

Unfortunately, the biodiversity of our earth has diminished tremendously over the last decades: 60% of species are lost in the last 40 years! The main reasons for this decline are the changes in land and sea use, which are visible through the relentless disappearance of the Earth’s rainforests, or the gradual fading of our oceans’ coral reefs. The second most important reason is the overexploitation of species, which happens in all our oceans.

Humanity’s food demands are increasing due to the growing global population. The necessity to produce more food to meet this need requires ever more land, which comes at the expense of biodiversity. The detrimental impact upon protected reserves and wildlife is directly related to the increasing livestock production needing more and more rangeland for the cattle.

It is crucial to maintaining biodiversity both in the wild as well as in our farms, as these are both ecosystems. Positive results have for example been accomplished by complementing nature reserves with pastureland, however this is not the norm of what happens within the ordinary livestock production.

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Biodiversity makes each of our environments unique and special. All living things, including plants, animals, and the soil make up life on earth, and they all depend on each other for their habitats and their nutrients:

  • The soil provides nutrients to plants,
  • The roots of the plants hold the soil in place,
  • The plants provide food and habitat to insects and birds, they, in return pollinate and manage parasites,
  • The animals can utilize parts of crops and deliver natural fertilizer to fields and grassland through manure.

That works beautifully, right?! Our food production is part of this ecosystem which requires genetic diversity, species diversity and ecological diversity to stay in balance.

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