Biodiversity is critically important for human lives because it supports the ecosystems that provide essential services such as food, fresh water, medicine, air purification, climate regulation, and soil fertility. It underpins human health by ensuring nutrition, disease regulation, and wellbeing. Additionally, biodiversity sustains livelihoods, provides cultural and spiritual value, and offers natural solutions against climate change and natural disasters. Without biodiversity, the ecosystems would collapse, threatening human survival and wellbeing.
Key Reasons Biodiversity is Important for Humans
- Ecosystem Services : Biodiversity maintains functioning ecosystems that supply food, clean water, oxygen, and climate stability necessary for survival.
- Health and Medicine : Many medicines originate from plants and animals. Biodiversity also plays a role in controlling disease and supporting mental health.
- Food Security : Diverse species contribute to diverse diets, agricultural resilience, and food availability globally.
- Livelihoods and Economy : Billions of people worldwide rely on natural ecosystems for jobs and resources, especially in agriculture and fishing.
- Protection and Resilience : Biodiverse ecosystems buffer against natural disasters (like floods), help mitigate climate change, and maintain the earth's habitability.
In summary, biodiversity sustains the natural systems humans depend on for physical survival, health, economic activity, cultural identity, and environmental stability.
