Biodiversity – our lifeline; Green Week 2010

The spotlight of the June 2010 EU Green Week conference was biodiversity. Topics addressed included the state of biodiversity and nature in Europe and the world, the benefits they bring, present-day pressures on them, and possible solutions to the current rates of loss.

Looking through the 2010 Green Week conference  website, I came across this challenging quote from Prof. Peter Bridgewater which seems highly relevant to BioFresh :

“Despite the dark cloud of climate change, availability and purity of water (the water issue) is the world’s most serious environmental challenge; so can better biodiversity management help solve the water issue, or will the water issue simply add more stress to biodiversity?”

Perhaps the question for us is what evidence and arguments can we draw on to support the proposition that bio-diverse freshwater systems enhance the instrumental value of water in terms of the quantity and quality or water resources for human consumption and use?  I would welcome your thoughts and comments on this question.Prof Bridgewater’s  talk titled “Climate for Water and Biodiversity, Water for Biodiversity and Climate or Biodiversity for Water and Climate”, can be accessed from here.

Muriel Bonjean