activities, and the ratio of fish stocks being excessively utilized has kept growing. Thus, it is evident that human activities are burdening nature. This is clear from the results of analysis of changes in ecosystem services made in the third edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook, published by the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Global trends concerning food show that while ecosystem services for grains, livestock and aquaculture are increasing, ecosystem services for fish catches and wild foods are decreasing (Figure 1-5-2). What we should not forget is that biodiversity and ecosystem services it underpins have been formed by a long history of evolution over approximately four billion years and they are not something humans can produce like manufactured products made at industrial plants, and thus cannot be restored to the original state easily once they are lost.

What can we do in order to maintain biodiversity and ecosystem services in good conditions and carry them over to future generations? Human activities are very significant in that they affect the environment, and we need to respond as society as a whole that depends on ecosystem services. For example, in manufacturing and construction industries dependent on biological resources, we need to switch processes of selection, processing and disposal of raw materials to sustainable ones that pay heed to biodiversity and manage ecosystem services as common assets of mankind through adequate payments for ecosystem services by various entities, including citizens. We should also do proactively what we can as individuals. People in the past lived with due heed to whether they could harvest crops or catch fish in the coming year. In the modern age when most people are not engaged in production activities, we rarely find ourselves in such scenes of directly paying heed to such things. However, we still must be able to feel that we are living with life bestowed upon us each day, set great store by and not waste food, and even in urban areas, notice the verdure and autumnal leaves of street trees, dandelions and the blossoming of cherry trees, and seasonal changes in the chirping of birds and insects. It is important to have these senses in everyday life and act on the basis of consciousness about “mottainai” wastefulness and a sense of gratitude for the blessing of life. We should be able to live nicely on the earth if we, as society as a whole and as individuals, pay due heed to biodiversity and proceed with efforts to maintain ecosystem services.

## 1 Fast-disappearing biodiversity on the earth

“Species” is the most fundamental unit in understanding biodiversity. Living organisms on the earth have adapted to a variety of environments in the history of evolution over approximately four billion years. As a result of this evolution, there are now multitudes of living organisms, estimated to amount to 30 million species, including unknown ones. Of them, the number of species we know of is about 1.75 million, only a fraction of the total (Figure 3-1-1). Since the birth of life, ecosystems on the earth that surround us are established on the basis of the long history of activities by living organisms on the earth. It is easy to imagine that it would require mind-boggling long years to restore ecosystems once they are lost. We know that biodiversity is essential for our subsistence given that oxygen that is essential for the subsistence of living organisms is generated by plants, agricultural products such as grains, vegetables and fruits are refined versions of wild plants and produced only because of the existence of biodiversity, and genetic biodiversity that can adapt to various environmental changes is necessary for species of living organisms to survive by avoiding extinctions caused by climate change or the spread of diseases.

Mass extinctions of living organisms are believed to have occurred five times on the earth in the past. These extinctions of species under natural conditions took several ten thousands to several hundred thousands of years to happen, averaging about 0.001 species a year. The problem is that current extinctions of living organisms being caused by human activities at an incommensurable speed compared with those in the past. Since 1975, about 40,000 species are said to be becoming extinct each year. Humans are indeed capable of extinguishing other living organisms before we know it (Figure 3-1-2).

According to the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) announced in November 2009, out of a total of 47,662 species assessed, 17,285 species are listed as threatened, an increase of 363 species over the 2009 list (Figure 3-1-3). The biggest driver pushing these species towards extinction is the destruction of habitats, but the main drivers are varied, including hunting and picking, invasion by invasive alien species, and contamination of water and soil. IUCN found that of species assessed, 21% (5,490 species) of mammals, 30% (6,285 species) of amphibians, 12% (9,998 species) of birds, 28% (1,677 species) of reptiles, 32% (4,443 species) of fish, 70% (12,151 species) of plants and 35% (7,615 species) of invertebrates are at risk of extinction. This means that we are rapidly losing useful assets in the form of unknown genes of living organisms.

Overexploitation and poaching of living organisms have an impact on biodiversity, and we have the Washington Convention (the official name: the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) as an international agreement concerning trade in rare plants and animals. The Washington Convention is designed to protect certain