Chandigarh.
The International Day for Biodiversity is celebrated every year on 22nd May to commemorate the adoption of the text of the Convention of 22nd May 1992 by Nairobi Final Act of the Conference for the adoption of the Convention on Biological Diversity. “Be part of the Plan”, is the theme of the International Day for Biodiversity 2024, is a call to act by all stakeholders/governments/individuals/NGOs/indigenous people/local communities and lawmakers to slowdown and reverse the loss of biodiversity by supporting the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework as collective responsibility.
Today itself is World Bee Day 2024 with the theme “Be Engaged with Youth” and stressed the need to engage youth to play vital role in protecting bees and other pollinators in agriculture, ecological balance, biodiversity, preservation, restore nature, prosper nature, share benefits fairly and invest and collaborate for nature.
Unfortunately, the decreasing population of insects is a matter of grave concern. At least 41% population of insect’s species has declined in the past 10 years it is 8 times faster than mammals, birds and reptiles. An average decline of 2.5% per year is as under:-
Canddisflies 68%
Butterflies 53%
Beetles 49%
Bees 46%
Mayflies 37%
Dragonflies 37%
Stoneflies 35%
Flies 25%
Eastern Monarch Butterfly 59%
Grasshopper 1/3d population declined up to 2020 in two decades.
The new generation hardly knows about the fireflies. Our generation has seen many in our villages and even in early 1960 in Chandigarh. There are about 2200 species of fireflies in the world out of which 165 species of fireflies in North America. In India there are 32 species. The population of fireflies is also deckling due to encroachment of open land, pesticides and light pollution. Causes for the decline in insect population are similar to those driving other biodiversity loss. They include habitat destruction, such as intensive agriculture, the use of pesticides/insecticides, introduced species, and the effects of climate change. Asian countries, including India, have seen a 55% decline in the wildlife populations, while the African countries have seen a 66% decline. The most significant decrease has been observed in the Latin American and Caribbean regions where there has been a decline of 94% in wildlife population from 1970 to 2018.
These insects are very helpful in pollination as they transform pollen grains from the male
Flower to another female stigma and create offspring for the next generation by making seed. This process is very important for the survival of all living creatures on the planet. One can easily imagine that if these insects will die gradually all living things on the earth are set to die. So the conservation of insects is need of the hour for our survival. Recently, ominous headlines have described a mysterious ailment, colony collapse disorder(CCD) that wiping out the honeybees and without insects and especially honeybees, the story goes, fields will be sterile, economies will collapse, and food scarcity.
Between 2003 and 2020, scientists from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Beijing caught almost 3 million migrating insects from high-altitude searchlight traps on Beihuang Island off the coast of northeast China. A further 9 million insects were detected from radar records. In all, 98 species were identified and counted, most of which were either plant-eating crop pests or insects that are their natural enemies – predators and parasites. Over the whole 18-year period, the yearly tally of all identified insects fell by 7.6%, a steady downward trend of 0.4% a year.
Similarly, the reptiles of the world are facing serious threat of reduction of the number of species. Approximately, there are 12,000 living species of reptiles as on May 2023. The fauna of reptiles are also facing reduction of species threats. There is one estimate that by 2050 over 500 species which is around 5% will be lost and by 2080 the figure will go down to 20% that means about 2,000 species.
Changing rivers and ocean ecology an immense effect on freshwater aquatic life has decreased 84% globally since 1970 and 2/3rd in less than 50 years. The survival of freshwater and long-distance fish is in danger due to construction of dams on rivers and other power projects which obstruct the migratory routes of fishes. It is amazing that only 37% of world’s river flow uninterrupted for 1000 km. The report states that the continuous warming of the Earth is a significant concern. “The Earth has warmed by 1.2 degrees Celsius since pre-industrial times. About 50% of warm water corals have already been lost due to a variety of causes. A warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius will result in the loss of 70% to 90% of corals, and a 2 degrees Celsius warming will result in a loss of more than 99%.” One of the solutions included in the report is to plant mangroves to protect communities living near the ocean. Mangroves are major nature-based solutions to mitigating the effects of climate change through sequestering and storing “Blue Carbon” in water logging soils and save ecosystems.
The report finds that 137 sq. km. of the Sundarbans mangrove forest has been eroded since 1985. As a result, the Sundarbans region lost land and ecosystem services for 10 million people who live there.
The solution to biodiversity loss is with government/individuals are to conserve habitat, protect forests, stop all type of pollutions and biodiversity conservation through awareness.
Correspondent & Chief Photographer.
