. B IODIVERSITY C ONSERVATION . . Why Should We Conserve Biodiversity?
There are many reasons, some obvious and others not so obvious, but all equally important. They can be grouped into three categories: narrowly utilitarian, broadly utilitarian, and ethical. The narrowly utilitarian arguments for conserving biodiversity are obvious; humans derive countless direct economic benefits from nature- food (cereals, pulses, fruits), firewood, fibre, construction material, industrial products (tannins, lubricants, dyes, resins, perfumes ) and products of medicinal importance. More than per cent of the drugs currently sold in the market worldwide are derived from plants and , species of plants contribute to the traditional medicines used by native peoples around the world.
Nobody knows how many more medicinally useful plants there are in tropical rain forests waiting to be explored. With increasing resources put into ‘bioprospecting’ (exploring molecular, genetic and species-level diversity for products of economic importance), nations endowed with rich biodiversity can expect to reap enormous benefits. The broadly utilitarian argument says that biodiversity plays a major role in many ecosystem services that nature provides. The fast-