Lagos, HOMEF urge preservation at World Biodiversity Day

The Lagos State Government and ecological Think Tank, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) have called for concerted efforts towards the preservation of biodiversity and towards addressing processes, which pose as threat to it.

In statement to mark the International Day of Biodiversity, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of the Environment, Mr. Abiodun Bamgboye, stressed the state’s commitment to sustainable biodiversity management by creating adequate awareness required for stimulating action for the conservation of Biological Diversity and economic growth.

On its part, HOMEF stated, “Biodiversity plays a crucial role in ecosystem functioning; provision of goods and services which are essential to human health and well-being; formation and preservation of culture and adaptability.

“Food production systems depend on the diversity of organisms, such as primary producers, herbivores, carnivores, decomposers, pollinators, pathogens, natural enemies of pests.”

HOMEF Director, Nnimmo Bassey regretted that policy makers are at ease while biodiversity is being eroded at an alarming rate thus posing fundamental risks to the health and stability of ecosystems.

Bassey stated: “The increased use of insecticides and herbicides on farmlands and the genetic engineering of crops to be insecticides themselves, kill intended and unintended insects and poses severe threat to biodiversity. Pollination, which is an important mechanism in the maintenance and promotion of biodiversity and is critical for food production, is threatened by the use of genetically modified insect resistant crops, intensive agricultural practices, pesticides, invasive alien species and climate change. More concerns are added as humans have advanced to the point when extinction is being engineered in the laboratory by a technology known as gene drives”.

HOMEF’s project officer on Biosafety, Joyce Ebebeinwe, added that a dependence of global food production system on the few genetically uniform varieties of plants, entrenched in a monoculture system,  is dangerous for the conservation of biodiversity and healthy living.

Noting the interconnectedness of species  and their collective effect on food systems, she lamented that humans are increasingly forgetting the fact that we are all beings sharing the same planet.

HOMEF concluded the statement by calling on the Nigerian government and other African governments to put a halt to the threats to biodiversity posed by genetic engineering of living organisms  and rather make investment in nature-centred approaches to agricultural productivity and promote of indigenous knowledge, cultures and biodiversity preservation.

Bamgboye stated that this year’s theme was apt as it aimed to project the importance of nature’s diversity for existence and well-being on earth, while also contributing to other Sustainable Development Goals.

The Permanent Secretary stressed the state’s commitment to sustainable biodiversity management by creating adequate awareness required for stimulating action for the conservation of Biological Diversity and economic growth.

He further described Biological Diversity as “the variety of plants and animals living in an ecosystem”, saying that its importance cannot be over emphasised as it engendered the provision of food security, environmental stability, ecosystems restoration and recreational values, amongst others.