MBIO162 Big Picture Biodiversity
21 January 2025: Intro to Biodiversity
Rio Summit (1992)
Convention on Biological Diversity
Treaty siged June 5th, 1992
Came into force 18 years laters
Raitified by 150 nations (not the US though)
Notion and measurements of biodiversity
Possible definition
Variety of life in all its’ manifestations
No such thing as the biodiversity of an area/group of organisms
Only measures of certain components possible – even then only appropriate for restricted purpose
I.e. populations
Surrogacy
Correlates of the measure of biodiversity that you want
Example: number of species of x correlates with number of species of y
Species richness
Good surrogate
Common currency of biodiversity
Acts as an ‘integrator’ of many facets of differences in biodiversity
Relatively easy to measure
Substantial amount of info already exists (or can be extracted from museums/scientific data)
More difficult for microbial diversity (limited literature)
Environmental DNA (eDNA)
Potential to revolutionize biodiversity science/conservation census of species on a global scale in near real time
Important in aquatic systems – less so terrestrial
Current eDNA methods
Require refinement/ improved/ calibration/validation at every level
Better understanding eDNA “natural history” needed
Origins, state, lifetime, and transportation-physical and ecological limitations of eDNA use
21 January 2025: Species relatedness
What is a species?
Taxonomic unit – fundamental to all of biology
At least 7 different definitions
Morphological species (most commonly used)
Smallest natural populations permanently separated from each other by a distinct discontinuity in heritable characteristics
Biological species
Interbreeding natural population that do not successfully mate/reproduce with other groups
Evolutionary species
Single lineage of ancestor-descendent populations distinct from other such lineages and which has its own evolutionary tendencies and historical fate
How many species?
Counted in OTUs (operational taxonomic units)
Estimated 13.62 million exist currently
Only 1.75 million are currently described
~13,000 new species are discovered every year
Biodiversity is not evenly distributed between groups
Most animals are insects
Most species of plants (>75%) are angiosperms (flowering)
Most species of mammal are rodents
Historical context
Aristotle
Great chain of being within animals
Progress to sanguineous (with blood) from non-sanguineous
Carl Linnaeus
Hierarchical classification of life
Kingdom, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species
Based on how organisms look, no interspecies relationships
Darwin
Theory of Evolution (late 19th/early 20th century)
Introduction of relationships
Whittaker (early 1960s)
5 Kingdom approach
Similar to Aristotle’s ideas
Empathized macroscopic over microscopic life
Woese (late 1970s)
Classification based on DNA/RNA
5 vs. 3 kingdoms debate
22 January 2025: Where is biodiversity?
Issues of scale
Species-area relationship – principle pattern
As the size of a geographical area increases so does the number of species it contains
Practical use – predict that as area is reduced, tendency to lose species
Habitat loss/fragmentation – major determinant of modern extinctions
Patterns may be obscured
Ex. By gradients
Costa Rica (1/6th land area of UK) has 1.5-2.0 k butterfly species, the UK has 60
Local-regional diversity
Local-regional diversity relationships
As an entire desert has fewer insects than an entire forest so a small area of the desert has fewer species than similar sized piece of forest
Local species richness tends to be an increasing function of regional richness
Thus changes in global biodiversity tend to be reflected in local biodiversity – and vice versa
Biodiversity extremes (high and low)
Sea/land comparison
All animal phyla (approx. 34) occur in the sea (one exception – velvet worms (Onychophora))
Two-thirds (20) almost exclusively marine
However, only 15% of named species are marine
Of these 98% live in/on the sea floor (are benthic)
2% live floating or swimming in the sea (pelagic)
WoRMS (World Register of Marine Species contains >250 k species)
SEA vs LAND
SEA:
Very few, large photosynthetic organisms – mainly short lived, microscopic algae
Dominant herbivores – micro (copepods)
Majority of large animals are carnivorous
Grazing – ingestion of entire autotroph
Food chain averages 5 links
LAND:
Dominated by persistant long-lived ‘large’ flowering plants
Dominant herbivores can (and often) are large
Grazing – rarely removes significant amounts of communities (indigestible, e.g. wood)
Food chain averages 3 links
Distribution of marine biodiversity
High/low extremes
Biogeographic regions
Works well for terrestrial systems
Ex. 3-4 tropical regions contains >2/3 biodiversity
Neotropics greatest biodiversity
Doesn’t work quite so well for marine systems – more open Indo-Western Pacific – highest marine biodiversity
Trends
Tends to be at level of groups of countries, i.e. little biological reality but level at which conservation/political decisions are made
Mega-diversity countries – 50-80% of world’s biodiversity tend to also be poorer countries
Ex. Central and South America, East Africa, etc.
Endemic taxon (number of endemic species increases the closer you get to the tropics)
Evidence mainly from terrestrial vertebrates that high endemism found in areas of high species richness
Gradients
Latitude
Alexander von Humboldt (1799 → onwards)
Venezuela – Mexico: species identity differs with latitude
Alfred Russell Wallace
Number of species increases as you go from temperate to tropic regions
Steepness of terrestrial gradient varies dramatically based on species
Ex. ants have a more gradual curve, lizards more steep
Some exceptions ex. marsupials
Pattern is indisputable but mechanism are debatable
Possible theories
Must be product of origination, immigration, extinction & emigration
Large scales – origination & extinction.
Thus tropics or a ‘cradle of diversity’ – high origination rates and a ‘museum of diversity’ – low extinction rates
Marine patterns
Planktonic diversity: occurs in all three domains of life
Overall decline in diversity toward the poles (fits with pattern on land)
Driven by decreasing water temperatures
Shallow waters:
Complicated - evidence for and against latitudinal gradient coastal marine fish/bacteria - increase in species richness towards the equator
Coral reef fish - no pattern
Amphipods/isopods/bivalves – highest before they reach the equator
Deep sea:
Increase in richness towards equator for a number of taxa bivalves, gastropods and isopods…. BUT not all foraminiferans – highest before they reach the equator
Pelagic:
Increase in richness towards the equator - ostracods, euphausiids (krill), shrimp, fish (N. Hemisphere), bacteria, most pelagic taxa
Generally the pattern in marine environments is similar to the one seen in terrestrial areas
Elevation
Von Humboldt
Kimboraza (Ecuadorian Andes)
No. & type of plant species changed as he ascended the volcano
Observations
Species richness decreases with increasing elevation
But hump-shaped pattern when standardise for area and sampling effort
Below the Earth’s surface
Endemic cave communities,
Ex. Movile, Romania
Chemosynthetic ecosystem discovered in 1986
Bacterial assemblages (62 different types)
4 km underground
Depth
Animals in the ‘deeps’ Bay of Lyons (1725)
420 metres depth in Aegean sea (1750)
Edward Forbes (1841)
HM survey ship (Beacon)
Hypothesis of zero animal life was probably about 300 fathoms (~550 m) below the surface which extended into a lifeless or azoic zone (1841)
Azoic zone hypothesis shortlived
Brittlestar found on a rope from 2.3 km deep (1860)
Late 1990s and 2000s
Overall decrease in species richness with increasing depth
Diversity peaks at intermediate depths (0.3 – 4.7 km)
Pelagic peak - more shallow than benthic
Pressure and temperature thought to limit species richness
Congruence (putting the bones together)
Different, well known groups on their own may not show congruence
BUT
The summed biodiversity of these groups may be taken as best approximation of overall spatial biodiversity we have
Family richness:
Seed plants, amphibians, reptiles & mammals
Hotspot of max. richness in central Columbia
Others in Malaysia, Nicaragua, Mexico, southern Columbia
Strong latitudinal pattern
23 January 2025: History of biodviersity
Pre-Cambrian (before life)
Age of Earth
4.540 mya
Earliest living organism (3.465 mya)
P. amoenum and A. disconformis
Found in a 3,465 mya Carbonaceous chert clast
Earliest animal (550 mya)
Dickinsonia (Ediacaran fauna)
Worm-like animal
Ediacaran fauna were earliest animals (600-550 mya)
Garden of Ediacara
Earliest animals
Strange shapes
Sheet/leaf like
Soft bodies
(Most) no mouth or gut
Must contain photosynthetic algae (McMenamin, 1986)
Seilacher (1989) - contain symbiotic algae/bacteria - use chemosynthesis
Similar to hydrothermal vent fauna
Adapted to low O2 levels
(i.e. 7-10% present day)
Traditional vs. Seilacher’s view:
Ancestors of present day animals
VERSUS
Early failed ‘experiment’
No descendants
Cambrian explosion
Sudden appearance of all major animal groups (550 mya)
First animals with hard parts
Examples:
Arthropod (trilobite-most dominant form), Graptolite (Hemichordata), Mollusc (snail) Archaeospira, Brachiopod (lamp shell), Chordate Pikaia (group to which vertebrates belong)
Why now?
1. Continents breaking up
Increased area of continental shelf → appearance of shallow seas → new habitats
2. Climate
Much warmer than today
Critical O2 level
3. Developmental genetics and origin of major phyla
Right place at the right time
Development or mutation of single Hox gene - huge morphological change
Mechanism for initial rapid evolution of body plans
“Wonderful life” (Burgess Shale fauna)
Discovered - Walcott 1910s
“Rediscovered” - Whittington 1960s
Species present:
Typical of Cambrian faunas
Many soft-bodied forms
Forms familiar - also forms strange
Most common species was the trilobite Marrella
Two books came out of the discovery
Gould
Many novel designs - very few successful
Re-run the ‘tape of life’ - everything is different
Successful species/designs are lucky, not necessarily well adapted
Conway-Morris
Too much made of novelty
Re-run the ‘tape’ - largely the same
“Best” designs always win
Post-Cambrian
542-500 mya
Pattern:
Cambrian (Cm)
Start: huge radiation major groups appear
End: Stabilization of many of new groups - little ecological specialisation
Events:
Cambrian (Cm)
Appearance of all the major groups including jawless fish and marine ‘plants’
500-300 mya
Pattern:
Ordovician (O) → Permian (P)
Huge increase in Biodiversity.
Then ‘stable’ for ¼ billion years
Little ecological specialization in sea
Events:
Ordovician (O)
Appearance of jawed fish (cartilaginous & bony)
Silurian (S)
First land plants
Devonian (D)
‘Age of fish’
First amphibians
Earliest insects
Carboniferous ©
Huge terrestrial forests dominate
First reptiles
300-250 mya
Pattern:
Permian (P)
Ended with largest biodiversity crash known
End of Paleozoic (‘early life’)
Events:
Permian (P)
Appearance of mammal-like reptiles
Extinction of trilobites
250-100 mya
Pattern:
Triassic → Cretaceous
Ended with largest biodiversity crash known
Beginning of Mesozoic (‘middle life’)
Rebirth of marine biodiversity but with very different forms that increases (with blips) to the present day
Events:
Triassic (T)
Marine:
Expansion of shell breaking predators & disruptive sediment movers
Beginning of the ‘rule’ of marine reptiles
Terrestrial:
Beginning of the ruling reptiles (and dinosaurs)
Jurassic (J)
Age of the ruling reptiles
Cretaceous (K)
Extinction of ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, mesosaurs and ammonites
Extinction of dinosaurs and flying reptiles
100-0 mya
Pattern:
Beginning of 3rd era → the Cenozoic (C)
Biodiversity continues to increase exponentially (with small blips)
Events:
Paleogene (PG)
Beginning of the age of mammals and flowering plants (angiosperms) on land
Neogene (N) & Quaternary (Q)
Age of insects, molluscs, fish (again) and one particular mammal
1950s-present day
Pattern:
Anthropocene (A)
An age of human influence & unprecedented biodiversity decline
Lessons from the past
Five big extinctions
list the five here
Background extinction rates
Account for 96% of all extinctions over the past 600 myrs
Lifespan of species in fossil record 5-10 mya
Recovery from mass extinction
Recovery of communities in the fossil record (different species) is 5-10 mya
Sixth extinction event
We’re in it
28 January 2025: Value of biodiversity
Direct-use: direct role of biological resources in consumption or production (marketable commodities); scale – enormous/multifaceted/difficult to evaluate
Food
Foundation of all food industries & related services (vegetables, fruit, nuts, meats, colourants, flavourings etc)
Mainly cultivated
Global agriculture 95% of all plant/animal protein
Half of habitable land used for agriculture
99% energy consumed by humans
1 billion people depend on ‘wild’ food (FAO 2020)
Plants
370,000 species of flowering plants
12,500 considered edible
200 domesticated (2.7 billion tons/yr)
75% of food supply – 12 kinds
Half of habitable land used for agriculture
Animal exploitation – more difficult to enumerate due to small no. of species
Insects
Moths, beetles, bees
Echinoderms
Sea urchins/cucumbers
Vertebrates
Fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds,mammals
Molluscs
Bivalves, gastropods, squid
Crustaceans
Lobsters, crabs, shrimp
Statistics
Global seafood catch (2018) – 96.4 million tons (source UNFAO CCBY)
Global aquaculture (2018) – 114.5 million tons
527% increase since 1990
Avg. global annual meat production 320 million tons (2013)
x4 than 50 years ago
Medicine
>60% world’s population relies entirely on plant medicine for primary health care
Of new drugs approved (1940s – end of 2014) 49% are natural or derivatives
1 in 125 plant species produced major drugs
Synthesised chemicals: 1 in 10 000 compounds tested
35% of medicines derived from natural products ($385 billion.y-1)
Ex. Pacific yew Taxus brevifolia – discarded during logging
Contains taxol – anti-cancer (breast/ovarian)
Best seller ever >$1 billion annually
Ex. Wide diversity of peptides in venoms of tropical reef cone snails (block ion channels)
Omega-conotoxin (Ca channel blocker) acts as an analgesic (x1000 more than morphine)
Keeps nerve cells alive following ischaemia
Ex. Cancer treatment
Clinical trials – sea squirts & sea mats
Preclinical trials – sponge & snail
Biological control
Use of natural enemies to control problem species
Successful use of 30% weed biocontrol, 40% insect biocontrol
Huge economic gains
Control of cassava mealybug by encyrtid wasp
Cost benefit ratio 1:149
Saving over $260 million/year
Industrial materials
Wide range
Ex. building materials, dyes, adhesives, rubber, perfumes
Ex. wood: worldwide exports $6 billion (4.2% of total world export)
Harvest 3.8 billion m3 y-1
Biomimicry
Termite mounds → A/C systems
Burdock seeds → velcro
Recreational harvesting
Hunting/fishing
Personal gardens
Botanical gardens (public and private)
Over 25,000 species
Zoos
825 globally
15k species
Aqauriums
14-30 million fish (2/3 coral reef species) traded yearly
Legal trade in ‘wildlife’
Ornamental fish/invertebrates
$278 million (FAO 1996-2005)
Aquarium industry
$1 billion AAPMA 2005
Commercial marine fish
$ 6-16.5 million
Coral reef fish
$500-1,800 million
Ecotourism
Founded on biodiversity by definition
Global ecotourism generates $77 billion/yr
5-7% overall travel & tourist market
Fast growing
Global terrestrial protected areas 8 billion visits/yr
80% Europe & NA
Generates $600 billion/yr (direct in country spend)
$250 billion/yr (consumer spend)
Only $10 billion/yr spent on them
United Kingdom
Urban visitors to countryside → 650 million day visits
Spent $7.5 billion/yr
Increase in the past several decades
1998
9 million whale watchers globally ($1 billion)
2009
13 million whale watchers ($2 billion)
590k shark-watchers globally spend $314 million/yr
Supporting 10,000 jobs
Indirect use
Overview
1015 gigatons) of C, H, N, O, P, S cycled annually
Living things modify physical/chemical conditions and create an environment suitable for life
Compared to other planets
Ecosystem services and what they mean
Indirect-provides services crucial to human well-being & ‘free’
(i.e. not subject to direct trading)
Examples;
Atmospheric regulation
Climatic regulation
Hydrological regulation
Nutrient cycling
Pest control
Photosynthesis
Pollination
Ex. Wild bees are pollinators of agriculturally-important crops
Soil formation/maintenance
Can we provide ecosystem services?
Costs
1997
World Gross National Product
17 trillion
Estimated cost
33 trillion
Services would cost more than the global total annual gross national product
Gave rise to ecological Economics
2014
World Gross National Product
111.3 trillion
Estimated cost
125-145 trillion
Attempts
Biosphere II modelled on I – feasibility of building on other planets
Project launched 1984
Cost $200 million
1.27 hectares
Support 8 people and 4k animals/plants for 2 years
Used twice for closed system experiments 1991 and then 1994
In 1994 they achieved good food production
Now research arm of Columbia university → University of Arizona since 2011
Dedicated to actively promotes maintaining ecosystems on Biosphere I
Biodiversity and ecosystem function
Relationships between biodiversity/species richness and ecosystem function
Redundancy
Minimum no. of species needed
Most species equivalent
Rivet-popping
Loss of few species, little effect but beyond threshhold losses, function fails
Idiosyncratic
Function changes with diversity
It’s unpredictable as individual species have complex and varied roles
Still contreversial
Seems that greater species richness increases:
Species redundancy
Resilience of ecosystem function through time
(Insurance effect) and so reliability of function
Non-use value
Option and bequest
Option value
Retaining biodiversity for options for future use & non use that it may provide, ex. genetic material as a source of novelty.
Species of no-known value may be valuable in the future
Ex. International Rice Research Institutes seed bank collection (1961)
1970s rice crops infected by grassy stunt virus; high yield rice in Asia lacked resistance
Seed bank strain no longer in use was resistant
1976 redundant strain crossbred with other to make resistant strain
Extinction = loss of information
Bequest value
John Locke:
Each generation should bequeath, ‘enough and as good for others to future generations as justice demands it
‘Compensate’ our children in the future for:
The loss of wealth, production, ecosystem services we are currently responsible for
CBD ..’determined to conserve and sustainably use biological diversity for the benefit of present and future generations.’
Intrinsic value
Organisms have worth irrespective of use/non-use value
Existence value (whether we see them or not) is difficult to categorize
But few would deny worth of species
Prevalent viewpoint (current):
We have an absolute moral responsibility to protect what are our only known (deities aside) living companions in the universe
Secular viewpoint:
E.O. Wilson – ‘Biophilia’
Humankind as ‘bearers of life’, natural empathy with other ‘bearers of life’
Intrinsic value also recognised in Convention on Biological Diversity (UN), as well as many other regional & international treaties
Religous viewpoint:
Faiths
Many religions (e.g. Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism) consider humans an integral part of natural world
Claimed that religions that set humankind apart from and ‘above’ the natural world (Christianity, Islam, Judiasm) promoted an anti-biodiversity world view
Took the view of a resource to be exploited – but too simplistic
Exploitation is present in countries/ages with more ‘biodiversity-friendly’ world views & the concept of stewardship is all important
The belief that biodiversity has intrinsic value is deep-seated and transcends history/religion/time
29 January 2025: Threats to biodiversity
Extinctions
Prehistory
Arrival of humans on land mass coincides with disappearance of megafauna
Oldest hunting cave painting Maros-Pangkep karst, Indonesia 43.9k years bp
We’ll never know what a completely natural system looked like
Possible anthropogenic contributions to Quaternary extinctions
Human predation
Habitat destruction
Hyperdisease hypothesis
Climate change
1600s-present day
Available information improves from 1600 onwards
>1000 recorded extinctions (>half in last century)
IUCN 1994
More strigient extinction criteria
Extinct:
When there is no reasonable doubt that the last individual has died
Extinct in the wild
When exhaustive surveys in known/expected habitat, at appropriate times thoughout its historical range have failed to record an individual
The data about extinctions are likely underestimates as strong bias towards:
Higher plants/birds/mammals
Islands
71% mammal extinctions from islands
Terrestrial & freshwater
(4 (5) extinct marine sp.)
Described species – most are not
More than 44,000 species threatened with extinction (2023-24) compared to 46,300 species this year (2024-25)
Future
Extinction debt – exploit past self-sustaining numbers
Species is effectively extinct – it just doesn’t know it yet!
Ex. Brooks & Balmford (1996)
Extinction debt in Atlantic forests of S. America
90% of forest cleared – but, as yet, no significant loss of bird species.
Many species not yet extinct but suffering huge population losses
Ex. tropical forests 1,800 populations per hour (16,000,000 per yr)
Ex. land use change
Decline in global bird population to one quarter of pre-agricultural levels
Principal (proximate) causes
Overexploitation
Most obvious impact: hunt/exploit to last individual/viable pop.
Scale is difficult to comprehend and unsustainable
Examples
Bush meat
Hunting in tropical forests – places without exploitation do not exist
Ex. 9.6-23.5 million (67 000-165,000 tons) reptiles, birds, mammals per year in the Brazilian Amazon
Unsustainable
Ex. Mammal production rates
Firewood/fuelwood
Over 1/3 of humankind (2.8 billion), directly dependent solely on fuelwoods for energy
Despite treeplanting programmes woodfuel
demand 2.4-4.3 billion m3
Present availability 2.3-2.4 billion m3 uelwood/charcoal
Marine fisheries
1st major collapse: Peruvian anchoveta Engraulis ringens (1971-72)
Wider impacts:
Reorganisation of structure of remaining species
Incidental capture/killing of other species, ex. turtles, sea mammals)
Huge bycatch (>25 million tons/yr)
Habitat destruction
Ex. bottom trawling, dynamite fishing
Environmental consequences of fishing debris
Ex. “ghost” nets
Habitat loss/degradation
Restructuring distribution of habitats or vegetation types– persistent feature of humankind
Often ‘natural’ landscapes are not!
Declines
Forest/woodland: 29%
Steppe/savannah/grassland: 49%
Shrubland: 74%
Hot/Ice desert: 14%
Cropland 11%
Pasture 23%
Human disturbance in every biome
Most marked temperate broadleaf and evergreen forests <6.5% undisturbed
Land-use changes:
Species lost as predicted by species-area relationship
Ex. 71% freshwater fish that have become extinct
85% birds
47% mammals
Land-use also changing due to climate change
Bringing humans and wildlife into closer contact
Introduced/invasive species
Intentionally/unintentionally introduction of non-domesticated species
Earliest known incident
Introduction of marsupial Grey Cuscus to New Ireland (Papua New Guinea) 19,000 years ago
Approx. 400,000 species have been introduced.
10% of introductions become established
10% of established become pests
Negative effects can be large-one of the great historical convulsions in the world’s fauna and flora
Pests-major agents of global change; 50% of threatened species in US at risk due to alien species (mainly predation/parasitism)
Examples:
Nile perch in Egypt
Voracious predator
Caused extinction of endemic fish species from East African Rift Valley
Brown tree snake in Guam
Accidental introduction
Destroyed 12 (of 22) native bird & 5 (of 12) native reptiles
Snake generalist predator so its numbers remain high
European rabbit
Original expansion caused by the Romans
Iberian Peninsula → Italy for food
1066: Normans to England
Age of exploration – invaded many small islands
1859: Australia
Rich British landowner Thomas Austin
He missed the hunt so brought 24 rabbits to Victoria
Quagga mussel (Dreisena bugensis)
Found in River Wraysbury, London 1st Oct 2014
Ponto-Caspian species originally
Economic cost – vast
Ex. 50,000 non-indigenous species (USA) cost $137 billion in economic damage and control
Net effect of species extinctions/introductions:
Homogenize biotas across the globe – more similar.
Ex. on average pairs of states in continental US now have 15.4 more fish in common than before European settlement
Extinction cascades
Extinction of one species leads to extinction of others
Examples:
New Zealand Giant eagles preyed on flightless moas →
Moa extinction by Maori hunting led to eagle demise
Ulitmate causes
All causes of extinction considered so far are proximate
Size of human population
7.93 billion individuals (Feb 2022)
Animals and people show similar relationships with primary productivity, finding similar kinds of area good for multiplication
This relationship breaks down at high densities
Growth of human population
Population growth slow for most of human existence
Dramatic increase within the last 200 years
Population growing most rapidly in biodiversity hotspots
Human population growth & species extinction:
Epitomized by Silphion (herb in carrot family)
Anti-fertility drug from Cyrene (Libya)
Valuable commodity, principle trade item
Difficulties in cultivating led to overharvesting → extinct in the 2nd/3rd Century
Scale of human enterprise
Primary production
Use/destroy 35-40% total terrestrial primary production
8% of aquatic primary production (disproportionately nearshore & freshwaters)
Energy use
From agricultural revolution to present:
Power consumption x> 10 k
Global commercial energy production >160 000 tetrawatts
Water (key resource)
Use 25% of total rainfall
Use 50% of total runoff
Where is it going?
42% attributable to agriculture
14% attributable to industry
Global Economy
Global increases in consumption outpace population increase
Ex. 1980-97 former tripled latter increased by a third
Massive increase in resource usage due to economy growth
30 January 2025: Maintaining biodiversity
Intro to Convention for Biological Diversity (1992)
Took place in Rio
Binding global treaty
Conservation recognised as common concern for all humankind
42 articles
Included genetic diversity
Objectives
Three main goals
Conservation of biological diversity
Sustainable use of its components
Equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the ultiization of genetic resources
Problem worse where developed nations exploit
Biodiversity of developing ones, but more widespread than this
Ex. Fungus Tolypocladium inflatum – collected by biologist on holiday in Norway (1969)
Drugs ex. cycloporin A (immunosuppressant, essential in organ transplants) developed.
2% royalties on sales – reasonable claim if benefit sharing with source country had been in operation – in 1997 $24.3 million
Only achieved through sustainable use
Only if benefits arising from the use are fairly/equitably distributed
Measures for conservation and sustainable use (Article 6)
Most far reaching/significant article
Measures not just expected to emerge somehow – nations obliged to develop and/or implement mechanisms
If they are to be effective – national plans & programmes will have to be integrated with policies in areas such as agriculture, education, employment, energy, health, industry, transport
They must become central to the way a nation’s affairs are conducted
National/local measures (UK)
1994: UK Biodiversity Action Plan launched
1995: UK Biodiversity Steering Group was created
1997: “Action for biodiversity in the south west: a series of habitat and action plans to guide delivery”; started the biodiversity planning process in this area
1998: “The Nature of Devon: A Biodiversity Action Plan” took the planning a stage further, Dartmoor National Park Authority and English Nature produced “The Nature of Dartmoor: A Biodiversity Profile”, The successful three year Dartmoor Biodiversity Project was launched
2001: The Dartmoor Biodiversity Action Plan was produced; the Dartmoor Biodiversity Project launched in September
Example of type of things that need to change
‘Perverse subsidies’ = subsidies adverse (to environment/economy) in long run
Ex. support for fossil fuels - (44%*)
Increase pollution, smog, global warming
Ex. support for energy/fossil fuels –(27%)
Increase pollution, smog, global warming
Ex. road transport – (29%)
Increase pollution, habitat destruction
Scale of perverse subsidies vast
Energy costs: $4.9 trillion worldwide (2017)
Often exceeding the marketable value of the goods generated.
US citizens taxed $2000 per annum to fund perverse subsidies
Also pay same amount through increased costs of consumer goods/environmental degradation
In accordance with Article 6 many countries developed:
National Biodiversity Strategies (general policy instruments to identify strategic needs)
Biodiversity Action Plans (or BAPs) (practical documents that identify what is to be done and who is to do it),
Ex. UK BAP (1994)
At best – identify ways in which societies operate can be restructured
More frequently – aspirations
Little indication of how met, fail to recognise fundamental nature of what must be done
Identification & monitoring
Gathering info to assess whether strategies/programmes/plans are appropriate and/or working effectively
Impossible to identify/monitor all facets of biodiversity so they placed emphasis on:
Components considered important for conservation/sustainable use
Activities likely to have significant impact on conservation/use
In situ conservation
Sections a & b: establishment of protected area systems/networks, central to national strategies
1. Most areas are too small
Corridors would be improvement but rarely implemented
Overall number increases, but average size decreases with time
2. Protected areas biased towards land with low economic value (also towards limits of geopolitical units – ‘buffer zones’)
Consequently do not represent patterns of natural occurrence
3. Designated YES – protected NO; Many ‘paper parks’
Ex. Grønne Ejland, Greenland Protected, Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance 1987
Special ref – world’s largest colony of Arctic terns (1950’s 50-80 k breeding pairs)
Summer of 2000: not one pair
Cost comparison
Protected areas globally: $10 billion
Generate $600 billion in income
Replacement space shuttle: $2.1 billion
F-35 fighter plane programme $400 billion
Pentagon will invest further $1 trillion
Global weight loss & diet management products and services: $390.3 billion
4. Overall extent of existing conservation network improving but still too small
IUCN (1993)
10% raised to 17% land area of each nation
10% ocean area
Balmford – global initiative 30% of oceans - $23 billion/yr + $6 billion/yr (over 30 years, start up)
Target now – 15%
Still too low
Marine environment;
0.5% ocean area
Sections c, d & e: establishment of protected areas, not enough must also protect wider area as the areas are
Not isolated and most threats come from outside
Ex. extinct rates in large African mammals in protected zones increases with increasing human density in surrounding area
Not closed
Ex. 80% African elephants live outside protected zones
Cost of preserving biodiversity beyond reserves
UN 1993: remediation in areas beyond reserves (per year)
Forestry: $34 billion
Freshwater: $1 billion
Coastal/marine: $14 billion
Farming: $240 billion
Still just a fraction of perverse subsidies
Section f: rehabilitation of degraded ecosystems
Birth of restoration ecology (1990’s)
Sections g & h: taking action against destructive introductions
Regulating, managing, controlling risks associated with modified (including GM) organisms
Sections i & j: look for ways of minimising conflicts between conservation & present use
Recognizes that knowledge, innovations, practices of indigenous/local communities may be pertinent to conservation/sustainable use.
Cultural relevance promoted
Sections k, l & m: Mechanisms for conserving biodiversity-legal, financial etc.
Recognition that available resources are not evenly distributed – poorer countries will need support (recurrent theme)
Particularly important due to complex set of interactions between poverty and the environment
1. Majority of biodiversity exists in nations with the least resources for conservation/sustainable use
2. ‘It’s the poor that do the suffering’
Damage to ecosystems impacts most directly on the poor
Suffer the effects of polluted environments
Suffer the loss of productive lands (incl. the sea)
Suffer the loss of traditional sources of food, fodder, fuel & fiber when forest cut down
3. Inequalities across the board
Relative impacts of factors affecting biodiversity are not the same in poorer (a) and richer (b) countries
The poor do not have financial resources to acquire essential resources; money reduces vulnerability to local environmental degradation
Ex situ conservation
Can include:
Seed banks
Sperm and ova banks
Culture collections
Ex. plant tissues
Artifical propagation of plants
Captive breeding of animals
Growing trend: more individuals of some species in captivity than in wild
Costs/benefits for ex-situ conservation hotly debated:
Particularly for large-bodied vertebrates, ex. primates, big cats, cetaceans
Key issues:
Ethics around keeping large animals in captivity
Short and long term viability of captive populations
Relationships between them, ex. reintroductions
Expensive: is it worth it?
Other benefits
Ex. urban education
Sustainable use
Strategies to live sustainably
Human exploitation estimated to be greater than Earth’s productivity
Ecological footprint x1.5-2.0 entire Earth (2020 figures)
Convention proposes integration into national planning
Debate centred on appropriate approach to trade (free-market, highly regulated)
Requires support of local peoples
But widespread belief that primitive people ‘live in balance with nature’ → myth
Distortions of history
When not: appeal to traditional uses reflect situations with low human density/ no commercial exploitation
Incentive measures
Adopt economically and socially sound measures that act as incentives for conservation/sustainable use.
In reality, the converse is often true, ex.. perverse subsidies
Responses to the convention
A number of countries have produced strategies and Baps – easy part
Implementing changes is more difficult – unpalatable to politicians with short term goals
Need to establish & agree measurable goals – but has not been happening
Hence the frustration at World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg, 2002
World summit on Sustainable Development (Johannesburg Aug-Sept 2002)
22,000 people participating, more NGOs and ordinary people than before
No new treaties – new targets
Halve proportion of people without access to basic sanitation by 2015
Use/produce chemicals by 2020 in ways they do not negatively impact human health/environment
Maintain/restore depleted fish stocks by 2015
Significant reduction in current loss of biodiversity by 2010
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Synthesis Report (2005)
2/3 of world’s ecosystems destroyed or degraded
Sept 25th 2015 UN – 2030 Agenda for sustainable development (17 sustainable development goals, 169 targets)
1 No poverty
2 Zero hunger
3 Good health and well-being (44% reduction in global maternal mortality)
4 Quality education (92% complete primary, 74% complete lower secondary)
5 Gender equality
6 Clean water and sanitation (50% reduction in those with no access to improved water source)
7 Affordable and clean energy
8 Productive employment and economic growth
9 Industry, innovation and infrastructure
10 Reducing inequalities
11 Sustainable cities and communities
12 Responsible consumption & production
13 Climate action
14 Life below water
15 Life on land
16 Peace, justice and strong institutions
17 Partnership for global development
Increase marine protected areas from 2% oceans (2014) to >10% by 2020
Aichi Targets (2011-2020)
Goal A: Address the underlying causes of biodiversity loss by mainstreaming biodiversity across gov’t and society
Goal B: Reduce the direct pressures on biodiversity and promote sustainable use
Goal C: Improve the status of biodiversity by safeguarding ecosystems, species, and genetic diversity
Goal D: Enhance the benefits to all from biodiversity and ecosystem services
Goal E: Enhance implementation through particpaotry planning, knowledge management and capacity building
COP15 (2022) Montreal ‘Landmark UN Biodiversity Agreement’
4 goals, 23 targets for 2030
Protect 30% of Earth’s lands, oceans, coastal areas, inland waters
Reduce by $500 billion annual harmful government subsidies
Cut food waste in half
COP15 (2023) Dubai
1. Formally adopts climate loss and damage fund.
2. Criticism : didn’t rein in climate changing emissions (no national targets to scale back fossil fuels)
COP16 (2024) Columbia
Formation of body for recognising a role of indigenous peoples in future conservation decisions
Levy on largenBiotech Companies (0.1% for using genetic resources, particularly from biodiversity hotspots
No agreement on funding roadmap for species protection (ran out of time – delegates left early and so summit not quorate to make decisions)
COP29 (Nov 2024) (Baku, Azerbaijan)
New finance goal to help countries to protect their population/economies against climate disasters, share in benefits of clean energy boom
Triple finance to developing countries, from $100 to 300 billion annually by 2035.
Scale up finance to developing countries, from public and private sources, to $1.3 trillion annually by 2035