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Why is species protection
to preserve biodiversity so important?
Ecological Value: Stopping environmental and habitat
degradation leads to preservation of ecosystems in which endangered
species live. As humans, we depend on these ecosystems to purify
our air and provide clean water and food. When species are endangered,
it is often an indicator that the health of these ecosystems
is becoming unraveled. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates
that losing one plant species can trigger the loss of up to
30 other plant and higher animal species.
Agricultural Value: Wild species are both economically
and agriculturally valuable. We depend on only 20 out of the
estimated 80,000 species of edible plants in the world to provide
90 percent of the world’s food. Wild relatives of these
common crops provide a genetic reservoir from which new pest
and disease resistant strains are developed (i.e., several years
ago, genetic material from a wild corn species found in Mexico
was used to stop a leaf fungus that had wiped out five percent
of the U.S. corn crop). Wild species also provide us with the
material to develop new crops which can thrive in poor soils
or drought-stricken areas, helping us address world hunger.
Cultural Value: Preservation of ecosystems by preventing
habitat degradation and destruction in turn contributes to the
growing tourism industry. This benefits the economy and meets
recreational, spiritual and quality-of-life needs. Spiritual
needs can extend to many indigenous people whose religion may
center upon respect for species and places.
Economic Value: Harvesting of certain wild species is
also essential to a healthy economy. Fishing is a major industry
worldwide providing jobs and personal income. In many areas
of the world, including the United States, people may subsist
on fishing which accounts for a major portion of their daily
diet.
Medicinal Value: As humans, we depend upon the useful
medications which come from plants and animals. How many Americans
would perish within 72 hours of a heart attack without taking
digitalis, a drug derived from the purple foxglove? Aspirin
was derived from salicylic acid found in meadowsweet. The National
Wildlife Federation estimates that 40 percent of all prescriptions
written today are either based upon or synthesized from natural
compounds found in the wild. Yet, E.O. Wilson notes these are
from but a small percentage of existing species, and we continue
to lose hundreds weekly which have never been tested.
Theological Value: All the previous values are based
for the most part upon the utility of other species to humanity.
For Christians, these values pale in comparison to the theological
value of the rest of creation. God has created us wonderfully
interdependent and interconnected in a marvelously intricate
web of life. All this is a good creation of God (Genesis 1).
Creation has dignity and value in its own right because it has
dignity and value in God’s sight. Thus, when any species
becomes extinct before its time, the earth becomes less beautiful
and God’s praise is diminished.
Mass extinction can undermine the natural systems which God
has ordained. The prophet Isaiah warned of the consequences
of greed overruling caretaking: “Ah, you who join house
to house, who add field to field, until there is room for no
one but you, and you are left alone in the midst of the land!”
(Isaiah 5:8)
God’s promised salvation includes nonhuman creatures.
The covenant with Noah extended to the rest of creation and
to succeeding generations (Genesis 9:1-17). Isaiah’s vision
of a new heavens and a new earth included vineyards, wolves,
lambs and lions (Isaiah 65). To seek protection for the creatures
God has made is to bear witness to God’s love for them
and to acknowledge that they, with us, will share in God’s
new creation.
Together, living faithful lives, we can respect God’s
creation, help protect God’s creatures, and avert mass
extinction of other species.
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