Biodiversity: Earth's Living Fabric

Biodiversity encompasses the variety of life on Earth. It's estimated that Earth hosts about 8.7 million species, with only a quarter discovered. Rich biodiversity boosts ecosystem productivity and resilience.

Ecosystem services are nature's benefits to humanity. These include provisioning (food, water), regulating (climate, diseases), supporting (nutrient cycles, pollination), and cultural (recreational, spiritual) services.

Soil is teeming with life: one teaspoon may hold billions of microbes. These organisms decompose matter, detoxify soil, and enable nutrient cycling, crucial for plant growth.

Oceans cover 70% of Earth, yet we've explored less than 5%. Marine biodiversity is critical for regulating climate and providing resources like fish and algae, which are vital for pharmaceuticals.

Pollinators like bees, bats, and birds are essential for 75% of the world's flowering plants and about 35% of global crop production, ensuring food diversity and security.

Forests store vast amounts of carbon, with the Amazon Basin alone sequestering approximately 100 billion tons. This mitigates climate change by reducing atmospheric CO2 levels.

Species are going extinct at a rate 1,000 times faster than natural background rates. Habitat loss, pollution, overexploitation, and climate change are the primary drivers of this loss.

A cubic inch of soil can host more living organisms than there are humans on Earth, highlighting the hidden complexity of our ecosystems.