Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given species, ecosystem, biome, or planet.
Biological diversity, or biodiversity, describes the variety of life on Earth and all the natural processes. It includes a collection of innumerable organisms.
Biodiversity encompasses ecosystem, genetic, and cultural diversity, and the connections between these and all species.
Types of Values
Use Value
Direct Values
Consumptive Use Value (Non-market Value)
Productive Use Value (Commercial Value)
Non-Use Value
Existence Value (knowing its existence)
Bequest Value (willing to pay for existence)
Option Value
Social Use Value
Cultural and Ethical
Aesthetic
Value of Biodiversity
Biodiversity provides various environmental services from its species and ecosystems that are essential at global, regional, and local levels.
Loss of biodiversity contributes to climatic change.
Forest converts carbon dioxide into carbon and oxygen.
Biological diversity is essential for preserving ecological processes.
Tribal communities that directly gather resources from the forest or fisher folk who catch fish in marine or freshwater ecosystems are directly or indirectly linked to the biological variety present in the biosphere.
In agricultural communities, biodiversity is used to grow their crops to suit the environment.
Urban communities generally use the greatest amount of goods and services, which are all indirectly drawn from natural ecosystems.
Preservation of biological resources is essential for the well-being and long-term survival of mankind.
Use Value: Consumptive Use Value
Refers to the direct utilization of natural resources for sustenance, economic gain, or medicinal practices.
Highlights how communities derive essential goods and services from the natural environment, impacting daily life and economic activities.
A straightforward example is the direct utilization of timber, food, fuel wood, and fodder by local communities.
The biodiversity contained in the ecosystem provides forest dwellers with all their daily needs: food, building material, fodder, medicines, and a variety of other products.
They are well-known about the qualities and different uses of wood from different species of trees, and collect a large number of local fruits, roots and plant material that they use as food, construction material or medicines.
Fisher folks are completely dependent on fish and know where and how to catch fish and other edible aquatic animals and plants.
Use Value: Productive Use Value
This category comprises marketable goods.
The biotechnologist uses bio-rich areas to ‘prospect’ and search for potential genetic properties in plants or animals that can be used to develop better varieties of crops.
For the pharmacist, biological diversity is the raw material from which new drugs can be identified from plant or animal products.
For industrialists, biodiversity is a rich storehouse to develop new products.
For the agricultural scientist, the biodiversity is the basis for developing better crops.
Genetic diversity enables scientists and farmers to selectively develop better crops and domestic animals through careful breeding programs.
New crop varieties (cultivars) are being developed using the genetic material found in wild relatives of crop plants through biotechnology.
New species of plants and animals are being constantly discovered in the wild. These wild species are the building blocks for the betterment of human life, and their loss is a great economic loss to mankind.
The preservation of biodiversity has now become essential for industrial growth and economic development - ‘biological prospecting’.
Non-Use Value
The value that people place on biodiversity even if they do not directly use or consume the resources it provides.
Reflects the intrinsic and ethical value of maintaining biodiversity for future generations or for the ecosystem itself, regardless of any immediate or direct benefits.
Non-Use Value: Existence Value
The value people place on the knowledge that certain species, ecosystems, or genetic resources exist, regardless of whether they will ever encounter or use them.
Example: People may care about the existence of rare or endangered species, such as the Amur Leopard, even if they will never see them in the wild or benefit directly from them.
Importance: Existence value reflects a deep appreciation for nature and an ethical commitment to preserving life, often tied to the idea of "intrinsic value" (the belief that nature has worth regardless of its utility to humans).
Non-Use Value: Bequest Value
The value placed on preserving biodiversity for future generations, ensuring that future humans will be able to enjoy and benefit from it. It is about legacy and preservation for future enjoyment.
Example: Efforts to protect coral reefs or forests can be driven by the desire to pass on a diverse, healthy planet to children and grandchildren.
Importance: Reflects a sense of responsibility and stewardship, emphasizing the moral obligation to protect natural resources and ecosystems for those who will come after us.
Non-Use Value: Option Value
The value associated with preserving biodiversity for future use, even if we do not currently use it. This is about keeping options open for future generations to potentially benefit from biodiversity in ways we cannot predict now. It is about future potential utility, even if we don’t know how that will materialize yet.
Example: Preserving diverse ecosystems like rainforests may not have direct economic value today, but they could hold undiscovered potential for medicines, new materials, or food sources in the future.
Importance: Option value highlights the precautionary principle—maintaining biodiversity because we may need it or find value in it later, even if we do not use it immediately.
Keeping future possibilities open for their use.
It is impossible to predict which of our species or traditional varieties of crops and domestic animals will be of greatest use in the future.
To improve cultivars and domestic livestock, we need to return to wild relatives of crop plants and animals.
Thus, the preservation of biodiversity must also include traditionally-used strains, already in existence in crops and domestic animals.
Non-Use Value: Social Use Value
Refers to the benefits that human societies derive from natural ecosystems and species, which enhance cultural, recreational, and community well-being.
While traditional societies had valued and preserved their biodiversity and its resources, modern man has depleted it up to the extent leading to irrecoverable loss due to extinction of several species.
‘Ecosystem people’ values biodiversity as a part of their livelihood, as well as through cultural and religious sentiments.
Plants and animals have ritual significance.
In recent years, farmers have begun to receive incentives to grow cash crops for national/international markets, rather than to supply local needs, which resulted in local food shortages, unemployment, landlessness, and increased vulnerability to drought and floods.
Social Use Value: Cultural and Ethical Value
There are several cultural, moral, and ethical values associated with the sanctity of all forms of life.
Indian civilizations have, over several generations, preserved nature through local traditions.
We have in our country a large number of sacred groves or ‘deorais’ preserved by tribal people in several States. These sacred groves around ancient sacred sites and temples act as gene banks for wild plants.
Biodiversity holds cultural, spiritual, and ethical significance for many communities, especially indigenous peoples and cultures with close ties to the land.
Example: Many cultures revere certain species, landscapes, or ecosystems for their spiritual or historical importance, such as sacred groves, holy rivers, or traditional ceremonies.
Importance: This reflects the deep cultural connections people have with nature, as well as the ethical principle that we have a moral duty to protect all living organisms.
Ethical values of biodiversity are based on the importance of protecting all forms of life.
Most religious and secular creeds believe that all forms of life have the right to exist on Earth.
Man is only a small part of the Earth’s great family of species; plants and animals have an equal right to live and exist on our planet.
Symbols from wild species such as the lion of Hinduism, the elephant of Buddhism and the vehicles of several deities are animals that have been venerated for thousands of years.
The sacred Basil or the ‘Tulsi’ has grown in the courtyards of each household for centuries.
Social Use Value: Aesthetic Value
Pertains to the appreciation of beauty and emotional pleasure derived from experiencing natural environments and diverse species.
The aesthetic enjoyment contributes to mental and emotional well-being, fostering a connection to nature.
Beauty of wildlife flowers
Canoeing/hiking/mountain climbing to enjoy nature
Use of ornamental plants inside our homes, offices
References
Enger, Eldon D. and Bradley F. Smith. (2010) Environmental Science: A Study of Interrelationships. McGraw-Hill, 239-241.