Biological resources of the world and their protection. What is biological resources?
All the wildlife that surrounds us is a complex, multi-level system of interconnected biological resources. A person can also be regarded as an integral part of this system.
Biological resources - wealth given
human planet
Bioresources are the "life of the Earth". All living things, from unicellular marine organisms to multiton mammals - are the biological resources of the world. These include:
- The planet's flora (phytomass) is the plant world.
- The fauna of the planet (zoomass) is the totality of all animals.
Living organisms that can not be regarded as flora or fauna, for example marine protozoans, are also part of the planet's bioresources and collectively can be called biomass.
They perform many functions simultaneously and are of great importance for humanity. Let's look at all the components that are part of the concept of "biological resources".
Animal world
Animals are an integral component of the Earth's ecosystem. They play an important role both for man and for the functioning of other elements of the biosphere.
Ensuring soil fertility, pollination of plants, water purification in natural conditions, transformation of organic substances in the ecosystem are just a few of their functions.
Plant resources of the world
This group includes, first of all, forestbiological resources. They are renewable, but exhaustible. The size of these bioresources is calculated by the area or volumes of wood that can be used by man. Forests occupy about 30% of the planet's area, which equals 40 million square meters. km. If we consider the stock of wood as raw materials, then its volume is about 350 billion cubic meters. m.
But the forest is not only a material for productionand fuel, and also the habitat of many species of animals. In this example, there is a close relationship between all components of the planet's biological resources.
Biological Resources of the Ocean and Fresh Waters
The world ocean occupies 70% of the area of our planet. Reserves of minerals in the bowels of the ocean shelf are not considered to be bioresources. Biological resources are all living organisms in the depths of water that a person can use for himself. The total mass of such living organisms is estimated at 35 billion tons. The highest productivity in terms of catching fish is the Pacific Ocean, as well as the Bering, Norwegian and Japanese Seas.
The biological resources of the ocean are also renewable.
How a person uses the bioresources of the planet
The volume of biological resources is difficult to determine,and even more difficult to find out their value in money terms. For example, forest land can simultaneously perform many functions: be a building material, fuel and a place of rest (recreational resource). Also, the plant world is an invaluable source of oxygen.
In the case of agriculture, it is difficultto distinguish between bioresources and agro resources. All cultivated farmland, used by man, appeared due to reduction of untouched natural areas, previously ranked as bioresources.
Water biological resources are used by man constantly. Marine animals are a source of food, as well as raw materials for other industries (medicine, agriculture).
Ground animals are also biologicalresources. The animal world, if we consider only wild animals, loses its former significance for man. This is due to the development of livestock. Although in some regions hunting continues to be a strategically important fishery.
State of the planet's biological resources
As you can see, a person has always boldly used what the planet gave him. And bioresources have not become an exception. But human intervention did not go unnoticed.
Biological resources of the world lose year after yearits original appearance under the influence of human deeds. We do not always think that one action can cause irreversible disruption of the functioning of the ecosystem of the planet. For example, deforestation causes the disappearance of many species of animals.
Over the past 30 years, significantly decreasedareas of greenery. The scale of felling is so great that it can even be seen in pictures taken from space. And all during the existence of civilization, our hands destroyed 35% of the forests. Unfortunately, the restoration of green plantations does not bring a proper result. Now the rate of reduction is 18 times higher than the rate of their regeneration.
The indelible effects of human activitiesfeel the biological resources themselves. First of all, the damage to aquatic bioresources is manifested in large-scale catches of fish and other seafood, pollution of reservoirs, destruction of spawning grounds.
Animals are a source of raw materials for manyproduction processes. However, the scale of using wild terrestrial fauna is insignificant, if compared with the volume of agricultural livestock.
Bioresources protection is the task of each of us
The fact that the biological resources of the world haveincommensurable value for the life of mankind, does not need any arguments. It is even impossible to imagine how people can exist without access to these riches of the planet.
World biological resources have no borders,therefore the issue of their protection should be solved at the international level. In total, there are now more than thirty organizations that regulate active actions aimed at protecting bioresources in each individual country. The UNESCO initiative was the creation of the "International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources". More than 90 countries participate in the research "Man and the Biosphere" under the leadership of the same organization.
Another socially active association "Friends of the Earth" conducts regular campaigns in defense of flora and fauna. "Action in defense of the Earth" is a youth unit of this organization.
Protection of biological resources is the main taskactivities of the international association Greenpeace. This organization operates at the local, national and international levels and has the support of the broad masses.
Main methods of conservation of bioresources
As you can see, organizations that position themselvesdefenders of nature, enough, but what specific measures does humanity take to ensure that the world's biological resources are subjected to the least possible influence on its part?
- Rational attitude to biological goods. Introduction of technologies for non-waste production and re-use of raw materials.
- Protection against pollution - purposefulactivities, whose task is to eliminate the negative impact of human life (installation of treatment facilities at enterprises, waste disposal).
- Arrangement of protected areasbiological resources. The fauna and vegetation here can be seen in untouched form. Reserves, sanctuaries, natural monuments, national parks are places where it becomes possible to restore populations of rare species of animals and plants.
And finally ...
Each of us is consciously or unconsciously dailyuses available bioresources. In this regard, our task is to use them as rationally as possible, protect and restore them, to enable our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren to see and appreciate all the riches of the Earth.
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