Biodiversity provides the foundation for the continued existence of a healthy planet, including our own wellbeing. Ecosystems are critical for processes such as soil formation, nutrient storage and cycling, plant pollination, and pollution breakdown and absorption. Biodiversity is essential to humans for food, clothing, medicine and raw materials for a wide range of products. The agricultural industry relies on biodiversity for healthy soils, clean water and mechanisms to combat weeds and pests. Genetic reservoirs maintained by biodiversity provide scope for improving food crops to be disease-resistant and tailored to new climatic conditions.
Biodiversity has social values, including aesthetic, scientific, recreational and cultural values.
Aesthetic values of natural ecosystems and landscapes contribute to the wellbeing of Australia's highly urbanised population. Australian society places great cultural value on the 'bush' and certain species, such as the kangaroo and emu, have become national icons. Aboriginal relationships to the land, sea, animals and plants are complex and have deep spiritual significance. Our knowledge of ecosystems and their complex relationships is limited, and therefore the results of disturbance are to some extent unpredictable. However, we do know that the underlying causes of loss of biodiversity are the resource intensive nature of modern Australia and the steady increase in human population.