Biodiversity
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Biodiversity is the variety of different types of life found on earth. It is a measure of the variety of life organisms present in different ecosystems. This can refer to genetic variation, ecosystem variation or species variation within an area or planet. On the other hand, sustainable development refers to the process of nubing human development goals while maintaining their ability of natural systems to continue to provide the natural resources and ecosystems services upon which the economy and society depend. Biodiversity and sustainable development are both interlinked and correlated to each other. To conserve the biodiversity of an area sustainable development is necessary and vice-versa. This is because the practice of sustainability is what allows the natural ecosystem to thrive hard in hand with developing human pursuits. Biodiversity thrives in such an area. Similarly, man’s pursuits for development in their day-to-day lives require the different resources that originates from the biodiversity of that area.Biodiversity is not just about ecosystems or organisms. It’s a resource that all living organisms need for their existence. It varies geographically with time, climate, land, etc. and many other human activities. One such event that bought about a lot of changes in the biodiversity of the world was the Green Revolution, which was just another scheme for sustainable development. The Green Revolution refers to a series of research and developments are technology transfer initiatives that increased agricultural worldwide. It impacted the agricultural practices in turn affected the flora and fauna around it. In order to overcome food shortage, the Green Revolution was started. But it affected the biodiversity negatively. The natural ecosystems were disturbed. Land was cleared in order to grow crops. The biodiversity of many areas was as such destroyed. The Green Revolution as such was not a sustainable practice.
As we talk about the green revolution, the question of food security arises. Food security is a complex sustainable development issue linked to health through malnutrition, but also to sustainable economic development and environment and trades. Food security has undoubtedly been the biggest challenge for our ever growing population. The scarcity of food resources is indirectly related to the social and economic problems faced by the farmers. The inability to produce enough food can be due to many problems; attacks of pests like insects, less land area for crop production, bad storage area etc. The agricultural practices of farmers have changed considerably over the decades. Farmers have adopted new innovative measures to increases production. One of such practice methods is that of organic farming. The practice of organic farming is advantageous to farmers as it increases crop production without the help of fertilizers and chemicals which sometimes prove to be harmful. For improving food security, scientists have already tried their best to develop new techniques and methods. One such thing was the introduction of GMO, i.e. genetically developed organisms. Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), are living organisms whose genetic material has been artificially manipulated in a lab through genetic engineering. We humans for our comfort have helped create these new life forms that are not the result of natural evolution. But the question remains whether these rampant gene manipulations poses any threat to species diversity, whether it affects health, climate change, ecosystems, etc. It will help to overcome food security. Most important of all, whether it will help conserve biodiversity in a sustainable manner or not.