ENVIRONMENT MINISTERS are meeting in Bonn this week to review progress on the United Nations' declared goal of "saving" biodiversity on the planet by 2010. However, it seems highly improbable that this laudable objective will be achieved, even in Ireland.
A disarmingly honest report by the National Parks and Wildlife Service, published last week, provided a stark warning that we are in danger of losing several species such as the freshwater pearl mussel which, ironically, can live a lot longer than any human being. That's what will happen unless stringent measures are taken to protect its habitat by ensuring that this mollusc has the highest quality water to enable it not only to survive but also to breed successfully.
However, it is not only the pearl mussel's habitat that is under threat. As the Status of EU Protected Habitats and Species in Ireland made very clear, a wide range of habitats important for the survival of biodiversity are in danger, including fens, oak woodlands, coastal lagoons, lowland hay meadows, sand dunes and many others. Of most serious concern is the survival of raised bogs, mainly in the midlands, after decades of peat harvesting and turf-cutting have reduced the land area they occupy to just 1 per cent of what it once was. It seems reasonable that adequate resources are provided to save a representative proportion of the bogs that still survive, if necessary by rebuilding their water tables, as has been done in the Netherlands.
Neither can we afford to ignore the economic cost of losing biodiversity, dramatically illustrated by another report published earlier this month showing that the humble earthworm is worth at least €750 million per annum for the service it provides in enriching the soil.
Biodiversity is also vitally important to human health, given the number of antibiotics and other medical treatments which have been derived from the natural world. Sustaining Life, a book published last week with support from the UN Environment Programme, warned that a new generation of antibiotics as well as new treatments for cancer, bone disease and kidney failure may all stand to be lost unless the world acts to reverse the alarming rate of biodiversity loss.
Thus, even in our own self-interest as well as our responsibility to act as custodians of nature, we have a duty to safeguard other species on the planet, including the lowliest form of life; one day, our lives may depend on us doing so.