Biodiversity in arid regions: values and perceptions

With their modest rainfall, arid regions are characterized by relatively fewer species than the better-watered biomes. But this makes it all the more important that the biodiversity that is present in arid environments be given even higher priority; for each species lost from an arid region, the percentage of loss for the regionʹs biodiversity is much higher than in more species-rich regions. And some species, such as bees and ants, are particularly diverse in arid habitats. Realizing the importance of biodiversity in the arid regions where they live, local people have devised numerous ways of limiting their impact. Historically, such regions have been especially subject to changes in climate, which affect productivity; these changes have often been accompanied by conflicts. The paper will describe these from various parts of the arid world, as a basis for comparison. The paper will also examine economic issues relating to biodiversity in arid lands, focusing especially on the relationship between biodiversity and various kinds of development projects. The major challenges in implementing the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in arid lands lie not so much in the biology of the species concerned, but rather in the social, economic, and political arenas within which people operate. We need to build a broader constituency for conserving biodiversity, extend the responsibility for conserving biodiversity far beyond government, bring local people into the conservation movement, ensure that sufficient information is available to those who need it, restore degraded ecosystems, and stimulate far greater public support for biodiversity.