Consequences of Biodiversity Loss

Biodiversity loss is not just an environmental issue—it directly affects human survival, health, economy, and even political stability. The collapse of ecosystems leads to multiple cascading impacts.

Let us understand these consequences one by one.

Consequences

1. Impact on Livelihoods

Human life depends on ecosystem goods and services such as:

• Freshwater
• Food
• Fuel
• Fibre
• Medicinal plants

When biodiversity declines:

• The productivity of ecosystems drops
• Local livelihoods weaken
• Communities may be forced to migrate
• Competition over shrinking resources can lead to political conflict

For example:

• Declining fish stocks push coastal communities into deep poverty
• Reduced fodder pushes pastoralists into conflict with farmers

Thus, biodiversity loss is directly tied to economic insecurity.

2. Food and Nutritional Security Crisis

Biodiversity is the foundation of our food systems.

How biodiversity maintains food security:

• Provides genetic resources for crops and livestock
• Ensures soil fertility
• Supports pollinators and pest controllers
• Maintains diverse and nutritious diets

When biodiversity declines:

• Soils become less fertile
• Crop varieties become genetically uniform → more vulnerable to disease
• Nutritional diversity falls
• Famine and malnutrition risks increase

Intensive agriculture—excessive irrigation, fertiliser use, pesticides, monocultures—improves yield in the short term but erodes biodiversity in the long term, weakening global nutrition.

Healthy diets require high ecosystem diversity.

3. Human–Animal Conflict

This conflict occurs when wildlife and humans compete for the same resources—land, water, or food.

Causes:

• Encroachment into forest lands
• Habitat loss, degradation, fragmentation
• Industrialisation, infrastructure (roads, rail), mining
• Expansion of livestock populations
• Ecotourism pressure
• Livestock on forest edges acting as prey
• Rising wildlife populations due to conservation success
• Climate change altering habitats
• Stochastic events like fire, floods

Impacts:

• Crop & property damage
• Livestock predation
  • e.g., Snow leopard preys on goats in Himalayas → farmers kill snow leopards
• Human deaths and injuries
  • e.g., Man-eater tigers
• Retaliatory killings of wildlife
  • e.g., mobs killing leopards

Human–animal conflict is one of India’s biggest conservation challenges today.

Mitigation Strategies

Various preventive measures exist, but each has limitations:

Physical barriers

• Fencing, trenches, walls
  • But expensive, and conflict shifts to nearby fields

Guarding

• Very labour- and cost-intensive

Improved livestock management

• Helps, but expensive for small farmers

Relocation

• Moving villages away from core wildlife zones
• Socially sensitive, costly

Better waste management

• Reduces attractants for wildlife

Community-based strategies (CBNRM)

• Involves locals in managing resources
• Effective but long-term

In reality, no single method works everywhere.

The Debate on Culling – Conservation vs Ethics

Natural Culling

In nature, weak individuals are eliminated by:

• Predation
• Disease
• Starvation

This maintains ecological balance.

Controlled Culling by Humans

When certain species grow excessively due to:

• Loss of predators
• Abundant crops
• Fragmented habitats

they start raiding farms and causing large-scale damage. In such cases, governments may consider controlled culling.

Why is controlled culling considered?

• To reduce human–animal conflict
• To protect crops, property, and livestock
• To protect native species from invasive or overabundant species
• To prevent illegal retaliatory killings

Examples from Around the World

• USA: Seasonal culling to reduce pressure on rangelands
• Africa: Culling for sustainable harvest in some regions
• Australia:
  • Culls feral cats to protect native fauna
  • Culls kangaroos
  • Recently culled camels
  • In 2022, millions of honeybees were exterminated during the Varroa mite outbreak

These examples show that culling remains a contested yet widely used tool.

Animal Welfare Activists vs Pro-Culling Lobby

Arguments Against Culling (by activists):

• Ethically wrong to kill animals
• Every animal is valuable
• Culling may create public apathy toward wildlife
• Non-invasive alternatives exist (fencing, chilli fences, compensation, buffer zones)

Arguments For Culling (by farmers and administration):

• Practical and necessary where populations boom
• Ensures protection of livelihoods
• Prevents illegal retaliatory killing
• Non-invasive methods often fail in the long run
  • e.g., Monkeys now raid even garlic in Sirmour, HP, which they once avoided

The debate reflects a tension between ethics and pragmatic conservation.

Increased Zoonoses Due to Habitat Loss

Zoonoses = diseases transmitted from animals to humans

Examples:

• Rabies (dogs)
• Ebola (fruit bats)
• COVID-19 (linked to pangolin/wet markets)

According to UNEP:

• 60% of human infectious diseases are zoonotic
  IPBES estimates:
• 700,000 deaths per year due to zoonoses (excluding COVID-19)

Why do zoonoses rise when biodiversity declines?

• Healthy, biodiverse ecosystems regulate pathogens
• When ecosystems are degraded:
  • Pathogens spread more easily
  • Wildlife enters human settlements
  • Buffer zones disappear

Forest destruction pushes wild animals into proximity with humans, increasing pathogen spillovers.

Adverse Changes to Biotic Interactions

Even if a species is not completely eliminated, a decline in its population can disrupt its niche—the role it plays in the ecosystem.

Example:

• Trees regulate moisture, temperature, shade, nutrient cycles
• Removing trees disrupts:
  • Soil formation
  • Animal habitats
  • Moisture retention
  • Temperature control
  • Forest microclimates

Thus, biodiversity loss alters the structure and functioning of entire ecosystems.