Why Is It Important to Conserve Ecosystems?
Conserving ecosystems guarantees the very existence of every animal and plant species on Earth. The natural world consists of various complex interactions between different ecosystems. Organisms influence one another and exist in an ecosystem created by nature’s balance.
An ecosystem is an area of land and/or water and the species that populate it. This can be a river or a river basin, a mountain, a marine area like coral reef, a desert or a forest. The ecosystems provide food, breathable air and clean water, as well as supplies for different industries. Disrupting the fragile balance between the organisms in an ecosystem and their interaction with the environment can result in significant and irreversible damages.
Ecosystems are life support systems. For example, cutting of vast areas of forests reduces oxygen in the air, dries the climate, enhances erosion, reduces the number of predators such as wolves, lions and sharks, and increases the population of smaller “mesopredators” that cause major economic and social problems. Eliminating parts of the rainforests that are home to two-thirds of all the living animal and plant species on Earth could not only alter the ecosystem’s biodiversity, but also influence the climate dramatically. In some cases, ecosystems are also conserved for posterity.
