Biodiversity Protection: In-Situ and Ex-Situ Conservation

Scientific Value of Biodiversity

Each animal carries genetic information crucial for natural selection and mutations accumulated over millions of years of evolution. In essence, each species provides a solution to the challenges of survival. Each species preserves a heritage of the life process and its role within the ecosystem.

Equity Securities in Biodiversity

Every country inherits three types of wealth: material, cultural, and biological. The collection of species from a country, nation, or region is termed biota. This biota should be protected and studied. Ecotourism trips can educate people about endemic species, boost the economy of biodiversity-rich areas, and encourage photographic safaris. However, these activities should be conducted with the utmost respect to prevent the loss of biological richness.

Economic Value of Biodiversity

Since ancient times, mankind has relied on living natural resources for its economy, seeking agrobiodiversity—variability among and within species and between races. This focus aims to:

• Improve disease resistance
• Diversify products
• Enhance productivity
• Improve human nutrition
• Maintain ecosystem structure
• Reduce the pressure of agriculture on the environment
• Promote sustainability

Protection of Biodiversity: In-Situ and Ex-Situ Conservation

In-Situ Conservation

This approach is based on the conservation of ecosystems and natural habitats where threatened species reside. It ranges from large areas like Biosphere Reserves and hotspots (areas of high diversity) to local reserves such as National Parks and Protected Landscapes. Most countries currently have legal systems for protected areas. Hotspots are large areas without political boundaries that possess enormous biodiversity but are subject to exceptional habitat loss. The most effective way to conserve biodiversity is by preserving the ecosystems where species live.

Ex-Situ Conservation

This method involves preserving and recovering species outside their natural habitats in locations like zoos, research centers, greenhouses, and seed banks.

The conservation of the biosphere should adhere to four principles:

1. Human activities should not diminish the biodiversity and integrity of ecosystems, which are essential for life on Earth.
2. Humans should not cause the extinction of species or alter ecosystem dynamics, which adversely affects the ecological and evolutionary processes within them.
3. The optimal way to conserve biodiversity and ecosystem integrity is to preserve habitats, their ecological niches, and their interrelationships.
4. The conservation of an area should be based on a thorough understanding of the characteristics and ecological processes occurring within that system to establish a model of sustainable development.