Biodiversity for food security 
By Nasir Ali Panhwar

Biodiversity plays a crucial role for agriculture and food production. Humans depend on the variety of food, shelter, and goods for their livelihood. However, humans put increasing pressure on species and their environment.

As a result, numerous plants and animals are at risk, as well as essential natural processes such as pollination by insects and the regeneration of soils by micro-organisms.

To feed the growing population, agriculture must provide more food. It will also be essential to increase its resilience by protecting a wide array of life forms with unique traits, such as plants that survive drought or livestock that reproduce in harsh conditions.

Sustainable agricultural practices can both feed people and protect the oceans, forests, prairies and other ecosystems that harbour biological diversity. Every year on October 16, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations celebrates World Food Day in commemoration of its founding on that day in 1945.

The World Food Day theme for 2004, was "Biodiversity for Food Security" as recognition to biodiversity's role in ensuring that people have sustainable access to enough high-quality food to lead active and healthy lives.

A rich variety of cultivated plants and domesticated animals are the foundation for agricultural biodiversity. Yet people depend on just 14 mammal and bird species for 90 percent of their food supply from animals. And just four species - wheat, maize, rice and potato - provide half of our energy from plants.

Apart from the absolute number of species, it is also essential to conserve genetic diversity within each species. Modern agriculture has encouraged many farmers to adopt uniform high-yielding types of plant or animal. But when food producers abandon diversity, varieties and breeds may die out - along with specialized traits.

This rapidly diminishing gene pool worries experts. Having a broad range of unique characteristics allows plants and animals to be bred to meet changing conditions, while giving scientists the raw materials they need to develop more productive and resilient crop varieties and breeds.

Rather than a single crop variety that guarantees a high yield, farmers in developing countries are more likely to require a range of crops that grow well in harsh climates, or animals with resistance to disease.

For the poorest farmers, the diversity of life may be their best protection against starvation. Consumers also benefit from diversity through a wide choice of plants and animals. This contributes to a nutritious diet, particularly important for rural communities with limited access to markets.

More than 40 per cent of the land's surface is used for agriculture, placing a large responsibility on farmers to protect biodiversity. By using appropriate techniques like no-tillage agriculture, reduced use of pesticide, organic agriculture and crop rotation, farmers maintain the fragile balance with the surrounding ecosystems. With plants, animals and their environments intact, a range of essential natural processes is preserved.

Livestock, insects, fungi and micro-organisms decompose organic matter, transferring nutrients to the soil. Bees, butterflies, birds and bats pollinate fruit trees. Swamps and marshes filter out pollutants. Forests prevent flooding and reduce erosion. And natural predators keep the growth of any one species in check.

Since the birth of agriculture 10,000 years ago, farmers, fishermen, pastoralists and forest dwellers have been managing genetic diversity by selecting plants and animals to meet environmental conditions and food needs. Farmers everywhere possess priceless local knowledge, including a highly tuned sense of matching the right variety or breed with a particular agricultural ecosystem.

According to FAO estimates about three-quarters of the genetic diversity of agricultural crops have been lost over the last century. And of 6,300 animal breeds, 1,350 are endangered or already extinct.

Global efforts to conserve plants and animals in gene banks, botanical gardens and zoos are vital. But an equally important task is to maintain biodiversity on farms and in nature, where it can evolve and adapt to changing conditions or competition with other species.

As custodians of the world's biodiversity, farmers can develop and maintain local plants and trees and reproduce indigenous animals, ensuring their survival. More than 840 million people remain hungry around the world and still more suffer from micronutrient deficiencies.

Global efforts have so far been insufficient to reach the World Food Summit and related Millennium Development goals of reducing the number of hungry by half by 2015. Biodiversity is key partner in fighting malnutrition.

Pakistan's biodiversity is a combination of elements from different origins - diverse and interesting species in a number of rich ecosystems. The flora and fauna consist of a blend of Palaearctic and Indo-malayan elements, with some groups from the Ethiopian region.

The dramatic geological pre-history of the Indian subcontinent explains the evolution of these elements. Around 20 million years ago the Sea of Tethys dried up to create the Indus lowlands and the upheaval caused by the continent crashing into mainland Asia gave rise to the Himalayas.

This together with a series of Pleistocene 'ice-ages', the last ending just 10.000 years ago, has ensured some unique flora and fauna. Because it is endowed with a remarkable geology, and is spread over broad latitude, Pakistan spans several of the world's ecological regions.

The biggest threat to biodiversity is the loss of its natural habitat. In Pakistan the continuous and progressive loss, fragmentation and degradation of natural habitats is leading to the disappearance of countless species. The forest area is already fragmented and degraded and is being subjected to further destruction, as are most rangelands and freshwater and marine ecosystems.

There is concern for the ongoing decline of many native species of animals and plants; some of which are already extinct. Agro-ecosystems are also fast disappearing and there is accelerated loss of domesticated genetic diversity. This loss has been more rapid in the past few decades. The trend is apparent in the remaining upland forests, scrub forests, mangrove forests, arid and semi-arid rangelands, inland wetlands, the Indus Delta and coastal areas.

The author is a freelance contributor
Courtesy: The Dawn