Maintaining Ecosystems and Biodiversity

• It's really important that biodiversity is maintained as damage to ecosystems or populations of species can be hard to undo
• Programmes to Protect Ecosystems and Biodiversity

  • Breeding Programmes
  • Habitat Protection
  • Preventing Global Warming
  • Reducing Waste
• Breeding Programmes


  • Help prevent endangered species from becoming extinct
  • Animals are bred in captivity to make sure the species survives if it dies out in the wild
  • Individuals can sometimes be released into the wild to boost or re-establish a population
• Habitat Protection


  • Programmes to protect and regenerate rare habitats like mangroves, heathland and coral reefs
  • Protecting these habitats helps to protect the species that live there-preserving the ecosystem and biodiversity in the area
  • Programmes to reintroduce hedgerows and field margins around fields on farms where only a single type of crop is grown
• Preventing Global Warming


  • Governments have introduced regulations and programmes to reduce the level of deforestation and the amount of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere by businesses
  • This could reduce the increase of global warming
• Reducing Waste


  • People are encouraged to recycle to reduce the amount of waste that gets dumped in landfill sites
  • This could reduce the amount of land taken over for landfill, leaving ecosystems in place
• Sadly for noble biodiversity warriors, maintaining biodiversity isn't as simple as you would hope
• Conflicting Pressures Affect How Biodiversity is Maintained

  • The Costs of Programmes
  • The Effect on the Local Economy
  • Protecting Food Security
  • The Development of Society
• The Costs of Programmes

  • Protecting biodiversity costs money
  • Governments sometimes pay farmers a subsidy to reintroduce hedgerows and field margins to their land
  • It can also cost money to keep a watch on whether the programmes and regulations designed to maintain biodiversity are being followed
  • There can be conflict between protecting biodiversity and saving money-money may be prioritised for other things
• The Effect on the Local Economy

  • Protecting biodiversity may come at a cost to local people's livelihoods
  • Reducing the amount of deforestation is great for biodiversity, but the people who were previously employed in the tree-felling industry could be left unemployed
  • This could affect the local economy if people move away with their family to find work
• Protecting Food Security


  • There can be conflict between protecting biodiversity and protecting our food security
  • Certain organisms are seen as pests by farmers (e.g. locusts and foxes) and are killed to protect crops and livestock so that more food can be produced
  • As a result, however, the food chain and biodiversity can be affected
• The Development of Society


  • Development is important, but it can affect the environment
  • Many people want to protect biodiversity in the face of development, but sometimes land is in such high demand that previously untouched land with high biodiversity has to be used for development
  • For example, for housing developments on the edges of towns, or for new agricultural land in developing countries