GEC 2 - Science, Technology and Society

Lesson 2 – Biodiversity and the Healthy Society

Lesson Objectives:
 Determine the interrelatedness of society, environment and health;
 Create a diagram that would show the relatedness of species in forming up a diverse and
healthy society without compromising one another; and
 Identify everyday tasks and evaluate whether they contribute to the wellness and health
of biodiversity and society or not.

Introduction:
Humans are the primary cause of damage and decline of biodiversity in our planet. It was
projected that by 2020, our wildlife will be reduced to 67% of its present number, and the annual
decrease in wildlife is around 2% according to The World Wide Fund for Nature and Zoological
Society of London which is caused primarily by doubled number of human population since 1960
to the number of 7.4 billion. Industrialization is one of the main cause of wildlife damage, humans
industrialized even the natural habitat of our wildlife and marine life, constructions of many
buildings and power plants harms the ecosystem and causes death to a thousands of species living
in a certain area, poisonous chemicals, gases and radioactive wastes are the serious causes of the
said damages. Without a place to live, those species would eventually dies and disappeared at some
cases at rapid rate. According to General Director of WWF International, Marco Lambertini, Earth
might enter the sixth mass of extinction event at 1,000% faster rate than usual. The disappearance
of species in a certain environment causes imbalance in the ecosystem that can cause serious harm
to the entire ecosystem. For example, the loss of flowering plants which is the primary source of
nectar for bees can affect its ecological system, bees contributes a lot to a massive number of
species including humans, they pollinate plants, which is one of our primary source of food and
for those herbivores.
Diversity in environment is so crucial to all the living creatures in our planet, sadly, human
activities can contribute to its destruction, and we as the most intelligent species should be the one
who are responsible to the growth and maintaining of biodiversity in our living environment. All
of us should study how society, environment and health is interrelated to each other. If human
being fails to recognize the needs of one of those components, the other remaining components
can be affected and compromised. In other words, this is the time to know the effects of species
being extinct and that our ecosystem being imbalanced.

Biodiversity and Ecosystem:

Biodiversity is the vast variety of life forms in the entire Earth, encompassing all kinds of
life forms, from the single-celled organisms to the largest multi-celled organisms. It is the
structural and functional perspective and not as individual species. It is also defined as “the
variability among living organisms from all sources, including terrestrial, marine and other aquatic
ecosystems and ecological complexes of which they are part including diversity within species,
between species, and of ecosystems. One of the best example of natural biodiversity is the Amazon
Rainforest which occupies a vast area of natural habitat for a thousand kinds of species including
different types of plants, animals and bizarre insects varying from common to rare species that can
only be found in that area. Amazon River is the home for rich biodiversity of species and some
areas of the forest are protected and inhabited by Native Americans.
Biodiversity is so crucial for every species because it is the source of many essential goods and
ecological services which constitutes the source of life for all. Biodiversity produces food and
medicine, agriculture and industry. In short word, development and industrialization is not bad at
all as long as humans are responsible and well educated about the importance of every organism
and its ecosystem, without the biodiversity, we have no food to consume, we have no medicine to
cure illness and diseases, there is no development and industrialization would be slow. Every
individual organism has a very important role in our environment and food chain, the absence of
one organism would greatly affects the rest of the species relying on its contribution. Biodiversity
is a give and take process, without one organism, the rest relying on it would not exist and would
be extinct.
Understanding biodiversity within the concept of ecosystem needs a thorough study on the
relationship of biotic – the living organisms and abiotic – the non-living organisms.
Interdisciplinary approach is needed to study the ecosystem. Biodiversity plays a major role in this
natural dynamics. For example, a large number of golden snails in a certain area of rice field can
help predict a low production of rice harvest, since egg of golden snails are considered pests for
rice plant, on a positive view, the larger number of different species in a certain area can be a
predictor of sustainable life in that area. Sustainability of the ecosystem ensures a better survival
rate against any natural disaster. We as human inhabitants of the ecosystem must preserve and
conserve the biodiversity of all creatures. People in everyday will always depend on biodiversity
for survival. Our health will ultimately depend upon the product and services that we acquire from
the ecosystem. There are some ways and processes in the ecosystem that we are humans are not
appreciated. For example, we as humans need to drink clean and fresh water, eat healthy vegetables
and food, and the needs of man to transport which rely on fuel, these are all provided by the
ecosystem. If we fail to keep the process of taking care of ecosystem, if we destroy our
environment, human survival would come to extinction too, life expectancy would scarce down
putting ourselves at risk. Decline in biodiversity would impact our living and could no longer
provide our physical and social needs. It would heavily affect livelihood, income, and on occasion
may even cause political conflict.

Changes in Biodiversity:
Alteration in any system could bring varied effects. A change in biodiversity could have
erratic effects in all forms of life. For example, humans inhabiting the forest would disturb the
natural order of life. Trees and plants would be cleared where houses are built, the animals and
insects living in the area would be also displaced or killed. These loss of life forms could affect
the entire ecosystem governing that environment, food chain might be damaged and would impact
human health on such different levels.

Threats to Biodiversity:
These are the threats to the biodiversity that were identified by the United Nations
Environment Programme:
1. Habitat loss and destruction – Major contributing factor is the inhabitation of human beings use
of land for economic gains.
2. Alterations in ecosystem composition – Alterations and sudden changes, either within species
groups or within the environment, could begin to change entire ecosystems. Alterations in
ecosystem are critical factor contributing to species and habitat loss.
3. Over-exploitation – Over-hunting, overfishing, over-collecting of species can quickly lead to its
decline. Changing consumption patterns of humans is often cited as the key reason for this
unsustainable exploitation of natural resources.
4. Pollution and contamination – Biological systems respond slowly to changes in their
surrounding environment. Pollution and contamination cause irreversible damage to species and
varieties.
5. Global climate change – Both climate variability and climate change cause biodiversity loss.
Species and population may be lost permanently if they are not provided with enough time to adapt
to changing climatic conditions.

Consequences of Biodiversity Loss:

With the improvement of technology and science at present we still have lot to learn about
biodiversity, more so about the consequences of biodiversity loss. The basic concept about
biodiversity loss was Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace.
Intact ecosystems are functioning mutually. Species making up an ecosystem determine its
productivity affects nutrient cycles and soil contents, and influence environmental conditions such
as water cycles, weather patterns, and climate and non-living aspects. There are lot of
consequences that we understand and there is a lot that we don’t know. According to Tilman “Earth
will retain its most striking feature, its biodiversity, only if humans have the prescience to do so.
It seems to occur only if we realize the extent to which we use biodiversity.

Nutritional Impact of Biodiversity:

Biodiversity is vital (World Health Organization) because of its influence to food
production for human being’s consumption. We need sustainable food source, we need to consume
healthy and well cultivated plant foods, the presence of good bacteria, nutrients in the soil, and
presence of some organisms in our agriculture is crucial because it is our assurance that the plants
contains the nutrients we need inside our body. We all need an access to those variety of nutritious
food for us to have a healthy body and ensure survival for the growth of our species.
There are numbers of species and genetic diversity for food production. There are bunch
of varieties and the compositions of nutritional values differ among varieties/cultivars/breeds that
would affect those nutrient availability to the diet. For example, naturally cultivated vegetables or
the organic have higher nutritional value and almost small to zero content of chemicals. As the
demand for food grows, farmers tend to produce crops much faster that they need to use a lot of
inorganic fertilizers and chemicals to increase and speed up their production rate that in the end
process, may affects our health. Those chemicals including fertilizers and pesticides would impact
the natural pattern of biodiversity and we humans are more perceptible to ill health.

Health, Biology and Biodiversity:

All organisms depends on their environment to live and reproduce. When a certain
environment has been destroyed, the species living on that environment would be displaced and
more likely to disappear completely. An organism needs air, water, food and habitat to survive
which are provided by its environment. Humans evolved due to the improved access to these basic
needs, for example, every civilizations starts beside the riverbanks because the soil near the
riverbanks are so fertile and humans can grow crops easily, water is accessible for consumption,
irrigation and construction, livestock also requires a stable source of water and food and humans
tend to consume a lot of water in everyday, without a stable source of basic needs, a species
wouldn’t survive. Humans develop a far greater advancement in agriculture, sanitation, water
treatment, hygiene and had a far greater impact on human health than medical technology.
Although we are living and depends on our environment to survive, lack of necessities and
knowledge may cause human mortality, environmental hazards may cause the risk of cancer, heart
disease, asthma, and many other illness. Pollution, toxic chemicals, and food contaminants. They
can also be social, poor housing conditions, urban sprawl and poverty. Contaminated water, poor
sanitation and improper hygiene are responsible for varieties of infectious diseases such as,
schistosomiasis, diarrhea, cholera, meningitis, and gastritis. Approximately 350,000 children
under the age of 5 (mostly in the developing world) in 2015, have died from diarrheal diseases
related to unsafe drinking water contaminated with feces and mostly 1.8 billion of people are still
consuming contaminated water for drinking and more than 2 billion people lacked access to basic
sanitation.
Interrelation between human health and biological diversity is considerable and complex.
The rapid damage in biodiversity imposes risk to both human health and biological diversity.

Environment-Related Illness:
Human illnesses that are found to be related with its environment includes Parkinson’s
disease, heart disease, cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, diabetes, obesity,
occupational injuries, dysentery, arthritis, malaria and depression.
On the contrary, human activities that promotes health and extend human life could have
an adverse environmental effects. For example, fertilizers and pesticides used in food production
causes damage to our environment, soil salinization, wastes from livestock, carbon emissions from
food manufacturing and transportation, deforestation for industrial, housing, agricultural, and
mining purposes, and overfishing because of huge demand for sea foods. Health care facilities also
have an environmental impacts. Hospital uses large quantities of electricity for their facilities and
equipment, fossil fuels and a large number of medical wastes that are improperly disposed. There
are also some necessary methods introduced by humans to eradicate certain disease, for example,
during the late 1940s and 50s in the United States, they have drained the wetlands and sprayed
DDT to get rid of mosquitoes that causes Malaria that method imposed threat to some of the species
living in the area. Reduction in mortality from starvation and disease leads to overpopulation and
may stress the environment in bunch of ways like increased in consumption of fossil fuels, clearing
of land, and increased generation of pollution and waste.
Climate change could also have a serious impact on human health. It can deteriorate
farming system and reduce nutrients in our food. In this case, biodiversity increases resilience,
helping it to adjust to the new environmental conditions. For instance, safeguarding of coral reefs
is essential to reduce the risk of floods, this extraordinary ecosystem can reduce wave energy by
97% thus protecting 100 million people all over the world.
There are legal dilemmas that forcing people to choose among competing values.
Intersections between health and environment have forced people to choose among competing
values and may be benefiting or may impose risk. For example, pesticides play an important role
in increasing crop yield thus damaging the environment and human health. Stopping the use of
pesticide could significantly reduce agricultural productivity that would lead to food shortages and
increase in food prices which in turn, could lead to starvation. Energy production helps sustain life
while it also imposes hazards to our air and water, spill oils and destruction of habitats.
No issue demands balancing benefits than global warming. Due to human production of
greenhouse gases that contributes to climate change that is likely to be a tremendous harm to the
environment and to the human health, but getting rid of greenhouse gases emission would
drastically affect the global, national, and local economies. For example, increasing taxes on fossil
fuels would encourage greater fuel efficiency and lower carbon dioxide emissions, but would also
increase the price of transportation which could lead to greater problems like inflation and reduced
consumer spending power. Managing benefits and risks also raises social justice concerns. In
general, people in the lower class have greater exposure to certain harmful environmental
conditions in their homes or work, such as lead, mercury, pesticides, toxic chemicals or air and
water pollution. Communities and nations should wisely choose a site for a factory, plant, and
waste dump or regulating safety in workplace to minimize the risk impact to the society. Decisions
should be fair, open and democratic, so that people who will be affected by environmental risks
have a voice in these deliberations and make their concerns known.
Drafting and implementing environmental health regulations, it is very important to
consider vulnerable subpopulations, they are the group with increased susceptibility to the adverse
effects of an environmental risk factor, due to their age, genetics, health, status, or some other
conditions. If a regulation is designed to protect only the average members of the population, it
may fail to adequately protect vulnerable subpopulations. Justice demands that we take care of
those people that are vulnerable, however, almost everyone has an above-average susceptibility to
at least one environmental risk factor. Since providing additional protection to everyone would be
costly and impractical, protections must be meted out carefully and the populations that are
vulnerable to a particular risk factor must be defined clearly.
Various public health strategies pit the rights of individuals against the good of society,
such as mandatory treatment vaccination, or diagnostic testing, including isolation, quarantine, and
disease surveillance. Owners of the coal-burning power plant must deal with many laws
concerning the operation of the plant, workplace safety, and carbon emissions. Developers who
plans to build 150 homes with the land they has purchased may also have to deal with the laws
concerning to storm drainage, water and sewage lines, gas lines, sidewalks, and so on. Restrictions
on property rights are justified to protect human health and the environment. However, opponents
of these restrictions argue that they are often excessive or not adequately supported by scientific
evidence.
Human right issues also come up with research on environmental health that involves
human subjects. For such research, human subjects must give consent, and great care must be taken
to ensure that they understand that they can opt out of the research project. Since the late 1990’s
some pesticide companies have tested their products on human subjects to gather data to submit to
the government for regulatory purposes. Some commentators charge that these are unethical and
putting the human subjects at high risk without a clear benefit to society. On the other hand,
experiments if properly designed and implemented, could produce important benefits to society
by providing useful knowledge about the effects of pesticides that lead to stronger regulations.
Mitigating plan and a workable plan of action should be studied in order to not compromise
biodiversity, while at the same time, promote good health among the society.
Summary:
It may seem impossible to really value species singly or in a detailed manner. But we have
to consider the entire planet as a single unit. A loss of a species or a family of wild grass can have
an adverse effects in the entire biosphere. Diversity seen in macro level seems to be still vast and
rich, yet if we look closely in it in micro-level, we have lost too much. Eventually, in the near
future, this biodiversity loss will have a great negative effect especially to us humans.
“The value of biodiversity is the value of everything” (Rainforest Conservation Fund, n.d.)
We must recognize the value of the organisms with which we share the planet. As Costanza
et al. (1997) put it, “We must begin to give the natural capital stock that produces these services
adequate weight in the decision-making process, otherwise, current and continued future human
welfare may drastically suffer… many ecosystem services are literally irreplaceable.” We do not,
and probably cannot, ever evaluate such services adequately, but we can value the ecosystems of
the world appropriately. (Rainforest Conservation Fund, n.d.).

Submitted by:
Ronald M. Escarez
I – BTLE (ICT)