BY STAFF REPORTER
The significance of protecting biodiversity is goes beyond safeguarding the life of a single wild animal or plant species. It is the diversity of life and the ecological interactions between diverse life forms that matters most.
Diversity matters because it has a big effect on the productivity and stability of natural ecosystems, and on the services they provide, many of which are important for key development sectors.
Crop genetic diversity increases the yield of agricultural crops, tree species diversity enhances wood production in plantations, plant species diversity produces better fodder in grasslands, and fish species diversity is associated with more stable catches. More diverse systems are also more resilient to climate fluctuations.
Diversity is not the only important property of natural systems from a development and poverty reduction perspective. Many benefits people, particularly those of a lower socioeconomic background, get from nature are dependent on the abundance of particular species as they are on the species diversity.
How well ecosystems provide people with developmental benefits also depends on their condition and extent, and on the specific functions certain species, groups of species, or ecosystems carry out.
Crucially, however, diversity underpins the abundance, extent, and condition of nature and ecosystems and is needed to secure the flow of benefits to people in the future, particularly in the face of changing environmental conditions.
Ethiopia is one of the countries of the world well known for its rich biodiversity. It has a very diverse set of ecosystems ranging from humid forest and extensive wetlands to the desert of the Afar depression. This is due to the variation in climate, topography and vegetation.
Studies also indicate that Ethiopia is one of the twelve known ancient countries for crop plant diversities in the world and has valuable reserves of crop genetic diversity, of which 11 cultivated crops have their centre of diversity in the country. The extensive and unique conditions in the highlands of the country have contributed to the presence of a large number of endemic species.
The flora of Ethiopia is very diverse with an estimated number between 6,500 and 7,000 species of higher plants, of which about 15 per cent are endemic. It has been said that Ethiopia is the fifth largest floral country in tropical Africa.
The country is also rich in its faunistic diversity. The larger mammals are mainly concentrated in the south and southwest border and adjacent areas of the country. Mountain massifs in the north are also home to many endemic species of mammals, particularly the Walia Ibex, Semien Fox and Gelada Baboon. About 277 species of mammals, 861 species of birds, 201 reptile species (over 87 snakes, 101 lizards and 13 species of tortoises and turtles), 145 species of freshwater fish, of which over 87 species are from Baro River and 16 from Lake Abaya, 324 butterflies and 63 species of amphibians are known from Ethiopia.
A total of 31 species of endemic mammals are found in Ethiopia. Among these five are larger mammals (Walia Ibex- Capra walle, Gelada Baboon-Theropithecus gelads, Starck’s Hare Lepus Starcki, Mountain Nyala- Tragelaphus buxtoni and Ethiopian Wolf (Canis simensis) and the rest (83.9 per cent) are smaller ones including 2, 9 and 15 species of bats, insectivores and rodents, respectively.
The Globally threatened mammal species recorded from Ethiopia are: Black Rhinoceros Diceros bicornis, Grevy’s Zebra Equus grevyi, African Wild Ass Equus africanus, Walia Ibex Capra walle and Ethiopian Wolf Canis simensis.
In terms of its avifauna, over 861 avifauna endemic species are recorded from Ethiopia. At present, 69 Important Bird Areas (IBAs) which are also important for large number of other taxa are identified by the Ethiopian Wildlife & Natural History Society (EWNHS) following scientifically defensible quantitative criteria.
These include the already existing protected areas and many other additional sites. Accelerated biodiversity loss during the human induced effect is particularly serious, given growing evidence of the importance of biodiversity for sustaining ecosystem functioning and services and for preventing ecosystems from tipping into undesired states (Fisher and Turne 2008).
A diversity of functional response mechanisms to environmental variation among species in an ecosystem maintains resilience to disturbances. Consequently, ecosystems (both managed and unmanaged) with low levels of response diversity within functional groups are particularly vulnerable to disturbances (such as disease) and have a greater risk of undergoing catastrophic régime shifts( Brown and McLachlan 2002)
Biodiversity is about not just the wealth of nature, but also the health of nature. Loss of biodiversity undermines the ability of ecosystems to function effectively and efficiently and thus undermines nature’s ability to support a healthy environment.
This is particularly important in a changing climate in which loss of biodiversity reduces nature’s resilience to change. It is also particularly important for people of a lower socioeconomic background who are more directly dependent on nature than are others, and who will be hit the soonest and hardest because of their existing vulnerability to climate change.
The past 50 years have seen a rapid growth of human consumption, population, global trade and urbanization, resulting in humanity using more of the Earth’s resources than it can replenish naturally.
More broadly, a recent analysis has found that the sixth mass extinction of wildlife on Earth is accelerating. More than 500 species of land animals are on the brink of extinction and are likely to be lost within 20 years; the same number was lost over the whole of the last century. The scientists say that without the human destruction of nature, this rate of loss would have taken thousands of years. Loss of biodiversity appears to affect ecosystems as much as climate change, pollution and other major forms of environmental stress, according to results of a new study by an international research team.
The study is the first comprehensive effort to directly compare the effects of biological diversity loss to the anticipated effects of a host of other human-caused environmental changes.
The results, published in this week’s issue of the journal Nature, highlight the need for stronger local, national and international efforts to protect biodiversity and the benefits it provides, according to the researchers, who are based at nine institutions in the United States, Canada and Sweden.
“This analysis establishes that reduced biodiversity affects ecosystems at levels comparable to those of global warming and air pollution,” said Henry Gholz, program director in the National Science Foundation’s Division of Environmental Biology, which funded the research directly and through the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis.
“Some people have assumed that biodiversity effects are relatively minor compared to other environmental stressors,” said biologist David Hooper of Western Washington University, the lead author of the paper.
“Our results show that future loss of species has the potential to reduce plant production just as much as global warming and pollution.”
Studies over the last two decades demonstrated that more biologically diverse ecosystems are more productive.
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD AUGUST 25/ 2021
