Put simply, biodiversity means the variety of living things on earth. Anyone who cares about the trees and open spaces around us, or enjoys feeding and watching birds in their garden, is appreciating biodiversity. Biodiversity provides the raw ingredients for our quality of life, our food and clothing, health and relaxation. We don't yet know the full value of some species, for example some plants may have potential for treating cancer and others may have agricultural importance. Research has shown that a rich and natural environment is important to promote human health both physically and psychologically.
Biodiversity is an important element of sustainable development .
If development harms or reduces biodiversity we will be handing to our children an environment that is poorer than the one we were fortunate enough to inherit. At the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro governments, including the UK, made a commitment to ensure that action was undertaken to conserve biodiversity of habitats and species. In the UK over 500 threatened habitats and species have been identified. National Biodiversity Action Plans are being implemented to aid their recovery. The targets of national plans will be best achieved by action at a more local level.