Biodiversity loss is something that affects us all although unfortunately only a minority of people are concerned about it. In one of his many interviews the biologist and environmental activist Dave Goulson explains it like this. If a plane loses a rivet in the wing it may not have any consequences but if it continues to lose rivets the time will come when the wing will fall off. When will that moment be? Nobody knows but it`s a similar situation with biodiversity loss. Losing one small insect may not have a serious effect on an ecosystem but how many will have to be lost before there`s a total collapse of an ecosystem?
Scientists are continually telling us about the decline in insect populations and this will have a serious effect on other species such as insectivore birds that depend on insects for food and plants that depend so much on insects for pollination. And of course, without pollinators much of the food that we eat would not be there. What we need is action to stop this biodiversity loss and we all have a part to play, but especially those who are in a position to do something. Europe has a Biodiversity Strategy which all EU countries are supposed to follow but it is necessary to try and involve everybody. Ireland is a good example of a country that has a National Biodiversity Action Plan that aims to involve schools, municipal authorities and individuals. If we want to protect our biodiversity we should first get to know it and BBT has been very active in doing what it can to inform people about our local biodiversity and what we can do to protect it. Pollution, habitat loss, pesticide use and now climate change are all factors in biodiversity decline. Every town, school, club, business.etc, should have its own Climate Change Action Plan and Biodiversity Action Plan. We cannot leave this until it`s too late. Now is the time to act and if we don`t we will pay the consequences.
And if you are looking for inspiration here are two books that you can read. In “Botánica Cercana” Jose Ramon Gomez informs us of the importance of urban flowers which we spend so much money and effort in trying to eliminate. And finally one of Dave Goulson`s many books has now been translated into Spanish. The title of the book is “Una historia con aguijón” and hopefully we will soon have the translated version of his latest book “Silent Earth” which not only talks about the problems we are facing but has a message of hope.
