Biodiversity for better life

The conflict between man and nature over the centuries has assumed diverse dimensions which are of a serious nature.The knowledge of the complexity of nature that first led to its worship and curiosity and then to its investigation and control has in the recent past enabled humans to not only dominate and exploit but treat nature merely objectively as nothing more than "resources" to be used in any way the favoured among the present generation see fit.

Recently, at an international conference on ""Biodiversity and environment"" held under the auspices of OISCA at Calicut, experts from different countries opined that the world driven by the forces of technology is getting gradually colonised by sentient objects which will, with the help of chemical receptors installed in them, determine our emotional status and respond to us sympathetically while bioengineered creatures will assist us like servants. Such a far-fetched conjecture may look like a piece of fantasy from a largely animated Star War movie but the fears expressed certainly indicate the possible culmination of a planet devoid of rich biodiversity and culture.

Monoculture
Going by some estimates, more than half the globe is under monoculture. Feeding six billion people everyday and coping with the increasing demands of increasing populations, Planet Earth, which took millions of years to create the most vital and essential life support systems, has been enormously exploited and robbed of its natural resources only during the last two hundred years. The varied complex and numerous ecosystems, which have been formed of millions of diverse species, are being continually and speedily depleted and the consequences of such depletion for the future of mankind are not being realised.

Prof M Balakrishnan of the Department of Zoology, Kerala University, pointed out that we do not have sufficient information on the species diversity and richness in most of the habitats, particularly in the developing tropical nations. Tropical forests are known to be more species-rich than any other known ecosystem, but these are also the most threatened ecosystems of the world, he said. Out of the total estimated species of the world, about 8.4 million species are from India but we have so far known or named or described only around 1,26,188 species.

"One of the major problems regarding biological diversity is our tendency over the last few centuries in the West to become perceptually isolated from it", says Thomas Lovejoy, author of Confronting Biotic Impoverish-ment. And perpetual isolation can become ""biophobia.""
Catherine Claire Kamino of the OISCA International Headquarters, Japan, believes that "biophobia" is both a cultural product and a self-perpetuating malady. And such a biophobia has its deleterious effect on nature as a whole which the humanity has witnessed since the Industrial Revolution. She further states that attempts to control nature so that it serves human interests alone is not a new practice or dream, but with biotechnical breakthrough, its potential is reaching new heights. David Orr, she said, had pointed out that the idea that we can dominate nature is proving to be an illusion, both dangerous and a paradoxical. ""The ecological implications of the philosophy of domination now loom ahead like icebergs before the Titanic.""

The most revealing and threatening facts came from the paper presented by Rannan Katzir of Israel. Rannan described in his presentation that the increasing world population, followed by urbanisation, creates an extreme food security challenge, mostly to the developing countries. This situation, faced with high rates of poverty and hunger, is foreseen to continue in the coming future too. Globalisation, he said, is favouring mostly the national and multinational companies but less the rural and medium farm sectors, which are still the main food producers.

The richness of biodiversity is mostly found in the temperate and tropical regions where the Third World is actually located. And these regions are serving the big seed producer-companies of the North who are searching for genetic resources to produce improved certified seeds without compensating the countries of origin which are also the buyers.

The state of Israel serves as an example of successful agriculture despite its unfavourable natural resource position. Introduction of new botanical species, advanced irrigation methods and improved agro-technologies have immensely helped Israel to be in the forefront of all nations of the world.

The greatest challenge of the present century for the world would be to save humanity from hunger and poverty that may stem from the impending environmental catastrophe. War and terrorism may cripple some nations and some people for some time whereas ecological destruction will spell an irreparable damage and economic doom on a wider scale and for longer time for a much greater number of people across the globe.

Major changes
Biotechnology may bring in major changes in our agricultural scenario but nevertheless, considering the complexity and biological diversity which the nature has endowed this planet with, it would be unthinkable to imagine precise, vast, long-range, safe and secure application of biotechnology to offer solutions to such a vast majority of people of diverse nature and cultures. And there is no need. Nature has its best solutions to offer through the process of natural selection.
A hi-tech approach to agriculture is not sustainable. It requires more energy and the calories that you get from such food are too meagre compared to the energy used. Besides genetically modified foodgrain or vegetable has to be carefully and individually assessed for health risks and effects on the environment.

It is learnt that the different types of environment produced by biodiversity and the ecosystems of those regions have been the basis for diverse cultures of people around the world. The skills, the arts and crafts, and the distinct abilities of people belonging to diverse cultures to understand, grasp and comprehend the various subtleties and the knowledge of the geography, history and culture are found to be influenced by the environment.

If our world is rich by its diverse cultures, which in turn have produced such a variety and richness in terms of language, poetry, literature, music and science, it must be singularly attributed to the creation of that mysterious, many-splendoured yet vastly unknown, gorgeous, revolving, cosmic object, Our Mother Earth.