Over the last 20 years or so, the term "biodiversity" has become firmly established in scientific and political debate as shorthand for the wealth of living natural resources on our planet: biodiversity encompasses the diversity of animal and plant species, the diversity of ecosystems and also genetic diversity. We, as human beings, are also part of that diversity. The diversity of life on Earth is one of the natural resources on which our very existence depends. It provides the vast wealth of plant and animal species that surrounds us. What is more, the food we eat, the materials we build with, the sources of energy we use and the world's many different natural habitats all form part of that biodiversity.
