By John Pickard
The threat to the Earth’s biodiversity is not the same issue as climate change, even if it does come under the same general umbrella of the ‘environment’. However, the drop in natural biodiversity is a serious issue and would by itself – even if there was no threat from global warming – pose a serious challenge to the future economic stability of human society.
Biodiversity describes the rich tapestry of different species of plants and animals that inhabit the natural world, as well as their relationships one to another. There are millions of different species of plants and animals, especially in the latter case, in the world of the insects. New species of plants and animals are still being discovered. Over hundreds of millions of years, evolution has guaranteed that every possible niche on the planet’s surface, as well as the oceans, are stocked with a rich variety of species, linked in complex webs of inter-dependence.
As long as humans have inhabited the planet, they have been able to use plants and animals for food, cultivating and breeding particular species to meet the needs of the human population. Even as recently as a few hundred years ago there were hundreds of varieties of grains cultivated and animals bred for meat and milk. But nowadays, as a direct result of the domination of food production by big capitalist interests, food is increasingly being produced in vast monocultures – increasing human dependence on a very small number of species of plants. If these plant species were threatened by disease or failure, it would seriously undermine the production of food for the human population. In short, the narrower the biodiversity on the planet, the greater the risks and the smaller the opportunities there would be to develop new food crops and new sources of medicines.
Unprecedented in human history
Human activity, according to the recent report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystems Services (IPBES: https://www.ipbes.net/ ) is seriously threatening the Earth’s biodiversity. The report concludes that “nature is declining globally at rates unprecedented in human history”, with extinctions of species “at least ten to hundreds of times faster than the average over the past ten million years.”
These are not concerns borne out of just a sentimental attachment to animals and plants (not that there is anything wrong in that) but they speak of a direct impact on the economic well-being of human society and ultimately a threat to human civilisation. “We are eroding the very foundations of our economics”, the chairman of IPBES says, in terms of “livelihoods, food security, health and quality of life worldwide.” Protecting biodiversity, according to the director-general of UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay, “is as vital as fighting climate change.”
The IPBES report is not the brain-child of an odd fringe scientist, but is a collective work by 145 expert authors, from 50 different countries: economists, agronomists and scientists. Some of it makes pretty grim reading, as it catalogues the growth of the human population, particularly in unplanned, urban sprawls and in the relentless clearing of virgin land to feed it. Some of the main points it makes:
· Urban areas have doubled since 1992
· 33 per cent of the Earth’s land is devoted to crop or livestock production
· 33 per cent of marine fish stocks are harvested unsustainably
· 40 per cent of all species are threatened with extinction
· 10 per cent of all insect species (the largest group of animals) are threatened with extinction
Although climate change is a separate issue, it is also a related one, because a large part of the threat of global warming – apart from an over-dependence on fossil fuels – comes about from the massive deforestation taking place in countries like Brazil, Indonesia, Madagascar and elsewhere.
PROFIT drives the challenge to bio-diversity
Socialists have argued that environment issues are not separate from other political questions. No-one should be under any illusions as to the seriousness of the challenges facing humankind through climate change and the decline of biodiversity. But the solution to these issues must rest with establishing democratic control (and therefore ownership) of the processes of production and the priorities of investment across the world economy. The greatest barriers to human progress and even to human survival are, on the one hand, the private ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange, and on the other hand, the survival of the capitalist nation-states, with all the rivalry and competition that comes with it.
The main driver for climate change and biodiversity degradation is not some vague notion of human activity, but PROFIT, pure and simple. The human diet across the globe is limited (and unhealthy) because it is what suits the big food manufacturers. Forty per cent of world grain production (yes, 40%) goes to feed livestock, not because of a human ‘need’ for large amounts of meat, but because food production (and dietary habits) are driven by profitability. Food production has shifted towards monoculture because it is driven by the big food and chemical companies like Monsanto, who manufacture (and monopolise) production of special strains of seeds, as well as artificial fertilisers and pesticides. (See excellent article on monocultures here).
According to a report in the Financial Times (April 26) “Scores of European and US companies, including some of the world’s biggest banks and investment groups, have been accused of aiding the destruction of the Amazon rainforest as the threat of global warming grow.” The US environment group, Amazon Watch, points out that even companies boasting their ‘green’ and ‘organic’ credentials are profiting from illegal deforestation. The Amazon basin provides 20 per cent of the oxygen for the Earth’s atmosphere and contributes to the uptake of carbon dioxide, but deforestation has increased rapidly in the last ten years. The right-wing government of President Bolsonaro, which is completely in the pockets of Brazilian business and illegal logging interests, will do nothing to change the situation: on the contrary, he is guaranteed to make it worse.
Plan investment for need, not profit
Activists in the Green movement and particularly young people are understandably angry and frustrated at the apparent obduracy and the unwillingness of established politicians to do anything serious about the challenges of biodiversity or climate change. That is completely understandable. But Green activists have no monopoly of concern. Socialists too are as concerned and as motivated on these issues. However, we believe that they can only be tackled by fundamental social change, involving the public ownership of the giant food, chemical, energy and other companies driving humanity to destruction. The production capacities, resources and investment of these big players need to rationally and democratically planned for the benefit of all, (including the planet) and no longer for short-term profit.
In his report, the chairman of IPBES argued for a “transformative change”. But he also warns that such change “can expect opposition from those with interests vested in the status quo, but also that such opposition can be overcome for the broader public good”. Never were truer words spoken. The lesson of the report is that we need to change the system, or we can change nothing.
May 9, 2019
