Biodiversity, or also called biological diversity, is the concept by which reference is made to the great variety of living beings that exist on the Planet, as well as the genetic variants that have been produced by the evolution of species, including by human influence on ecosystems. But the notion of biodiversity not only includes the definition of the multiple species that populate the Earth, but also implies its conception as a system in which the interaction and interdependence between all of them, supposes the maximum of its importance in itself. For the chain through which the species interact with each other is essential for their own survival.
However, economic and social activities have endangered their existence at the frenetic pace of development and growth of human populations, causing the extinction of a high percentage of species.
This is how its importance is socially recognized at the Earth Summit held by the United Nations in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, where the need to search for a way through which human development affected the premise of ” sustainability ” was stressed for the first time. for the conservation of biodiversity. In this way, not only is the transgression committed by the economic and social activities of Humanity recognized, but the urgent need to start looking for an intermediate solution that does not slow economic growth but has the least possible repercussions on the nature.
In this way, the importance of biodiversity can be synthesized in two essential features. On the one hand, biodiversity is the fruit of the work of millions of years of Nature, so its value is incalculable and irreplaceable. And on the other hand, the diversity of species is a guarantee for the correct functioning of the system that forms living beings together with the environment in which they live and to which they contribute for their survival.
In short, we can affirm that biodiversity is not only significant for human beings, but is essential for the life of the Planet, and therefore, we must try to preserve it. The biodiversity of the species provides us with goods as necessary as food, or oxygen; it provides us with raw materials that promote economic development, produces energy that we use as fuel , such as oil or coal; it is the origin of some medications; And last but not least, it fills us with beautiful landscapes that we can enjoy.
