Biodiversity is an irreplaceable resource. Biodiversity is not only an important resource but also strength of developing countries. Some of its importance is discussed as under:
(a) Biodiversity is the source of species on which the human race depends for food, fodder, fuel, fibre, shelter, medicine etc.
(b) Diverse species of plants, animals and micro-organisms provide us invaluable and indispensable ecological services, such as determining the climate of different parts of the world, maintaining the chemical composition of atmosphere and so on. On it depends the stability of the biosphere, which in turn leads to stability in climate, water, soil, chemistry of air, and overall health of the biosphere.
(c) Biological diversity is crucial for the survival of an ecosystem. The loss of even one or a few species, in a simple ecosystem, could be disastrous for it because of the lack of alternatives.
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(d) Biodiversity is the basement of today’s biotechnology and other socio-economic purpose such as agriculture, animal husbandry, forestry, and silviculture and so on. In all these cases, biodiversity performs as the source of genetic pool.
(e) Biological diversity is a valuable genetic resource. In agriculture, the productivity of major crops cannot be maintained, let alone expanded, without a constant infusion of fresh genetic variability. Much of this genetic material comes from wild relatives of the modern crop plants. There are hundreds of examples, which illustrate how genetic modification helped in improved quality of the product. A few of them are mentioned as under:
(f) It was evident in the early 1970s when an epidemic called grassy stunt virus destroyed more than 1, 60,000 hectares of rice in Asia. It could be controlled from a single sample of wild rice Oryzanivara from central India, which was found to be the only known genetic source of resistance to the grassy stunt. So there is a dire need to exploit and identify those under exploited wild crop varieties to supplement the human diet.
(f) The genes from the Kans grass grown in Indonesia helped in imparting resistance to red rot disease of sugarcane.
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(g) The insect fauna contain a large number of species, which are potentially superior weed-control agents, crop-pollinators and are parasites on pests. Snakes protect damage to grains from rodents. Frog is supposed to consume insects equaling its own weight per day. Earthworms help in creating soils and increasing soil fertility by turning it upside down.
(h) There are several plant species, which have potential medicinal applications. For example: Neem, Tulsi etc.
(i) Aesthetic use of biodiversity includes the impact of living entities on the psyche of man as evidenced through man’s attempt in beautifying one’s own person, decorating man’s environment, expressing his mood through specific action and in literatures, arts and culture. Diversity of biological communities in ecosystems (such as lakes, forests, sanctuaries, wild life etc.) is useful for picnics, fishing and other recreational activities.
(j) Biodiversity helps in the preservation of socio-economic, aesthetic, cultural and religious values of ecosystems.