Sri Lanka supports unusually high biodiversity compared to any other moderate-sized tropical island. The hallmark of Sri Lanka’s biodiversity is signified by the presence of large populations of mega fauna (Asian elephant, leopard, sloth bear etc.,) that do not occur in other moderate sized islands, as well as the presence of a large proportion of endemic species (species that are naturally found only in Sri Lanka). Therefore Sri Lanka, along with the Western Ghats of India, is listed as one of the 34 biodiversity hotspots of the world. Designation of a biodiversity hotspot is based on two criteria, presence of 0.5% or 1500 species of vascular plants as endemics and reduction of forest cover by 70% or more causing many of the taxa to become threatened with extinction. Designation of Sri Lanka as a biodiversity hotspot is based on both of these criteria as there is a high level of endemicity in most taxonomic groups and a high proportion of the species in most taxonomic groups are threatened with extinction, especially in the case of endemic species, primarily due to loss of habitat.
Loss of biodiversity will lead to loss of goods and services provided by the biological resources as well as loss of resilience of natural ecosystems to withstand changes in the environment, especially the predicted changes that are brought about by climate change. This in turn will have a significant impact on human wellbeing and livelihoods such as agriculture and fisheries that directly depend on these ecosystem services. Further, Sri Lanka plans to expand its tourism industry which heavily depends on the natural capital whose loss will reduce the attractiveness of Sri Lanka as a tourism destination. Loss of biodiversity will also have an impact on future benefits that can be accrued from biological resources such as development of new drugs and improving crop varieties using emerging innovations of biotechnology.
In the universe are billions of galaxies,
In our galaxy are billions of planets,
But there is OnlyOneEarth.
Let’s take care of it.
