If Biodiversity Is Our Garden Of Eden, Where Does It Start? You Missed It Already!

You think Pandemics and Biodiversity have nothing to do with Agriculture? Think again!

Coronavirus, pandemics. I google for “pandemics biodiversity” (excluding double quotes) and Google gives me 15 million results. Everybody is talking about pandemics and biodiversity! Like so:

“Biodiversity Loss Is Hurting Our Ability To Combat Pandemics” – weforum.org
“Biodiversity, Pandemics And The Circle Of Life” – greenbiz.com
“Ban Wildlife Markets To Avert Pandemics, Says UN Biodiversity… – theguardian.com
“Want To Stop The Next Pandemic? Protect Wildlife Habitats – TIME
“Biodiversity And Emerging Diseases” – NCBI

Okay, already! In the Philippines, we have right at the upper campus of UP Los Baños the headquarters of the Asean Biodiversity Center, ABC, with Theresa Mundita Lim, as Executive Director. Janvic Mateo writes on “Biodiversity Protection Needed To Prevent Future Pandemics” (26 April 2020, The Philippine Star[1]) and says, “Lim said the current pandemic highlights the need to mainstream efforts to protect biodiversity to prevent future spread of illnesses.”

Ms Lim was saying, “Exposure to wildlife in general can result in transmission of illnesses.” The danger is real. She said:

There’s more exposure now to the wilderness areas, between people and wildlife. It’s not just the markets, not just the trade, but the encroaching of what used to be wildlife habitats, decreasing habitat areas.

So! We humans continue to disrespect Mother Nature! What you do comes back to you. One of the forms this disrespect comes back to us is pandemics.

Ms Lim was saying, “(We have) to protect biodiversity.”
The question is: How do we do that?

If you look at the above image, from The Conversation[2], the answer is:

You: “We go back to the forest!”
Me: “We go back to the farms!”

We have millions of hectares more farms than forests.

Martine Maron of the University of Queensland throws a very intriguing question in the title of her article, which also contains its own answer, and which is inspiring (source cited above):

“Food Vs Fauna: Can We Have Our Biodiversity And Eat, Too?”

Ms Martine says:

So, we have to feed an extra 2.5 billion people by 2050. For those of us interested in the future of biodiversity on this planet, this poses an uncomfortable challenge…

She is encouraging “land sharing” – using “wildlife-friendly” farming.

I am extremely glad Ms Martine does not say, “Farm the mountains!”

Now, look at the above image again. Because we prefer to cultivate certain crops, there is not much diversity in the farms, is there? There is not much diversity in the plant life on the slopes of that mountain either, is there?

So, where do we start the new consciousness on biodiversity?

The obvious answer is: The mountains.
The immediately visible and more intelligent answer is: The farms.

What do I mean by biodiversity on the farms?
Multiple cropping.
Intercropping.
Three-Sister planting.
Trap cropping.
Agroforestry.

If we leave no bare patch of ground unplanted, we will see biodiversity like we have never seen before – and the wildlife will thank us, including the flowers and the bees!@517

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[1] https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2020/04/26/2009890/biodiversity-protection-needed-prevent-future-pandemics

[2] https://theconversation.com/food-vs-fauna-can-we-have-our-biodiversity-and-eat-too-3178