Biodiversity, ecosystem services (ESS) and negative impact factors
Biodiversity includes the diversity of ecosystems and species as well as the genetic variation within the species. Biological diversity is the basis for a number of different services for people and the economy. These services that can be classified as follows:
Provisioning services
This includes production of elementary raw materials (drinking water, food, energy or medicines)
Regulating services
In addition, ecosystems play an elementary role in regulating the climate or extreme flood events, purifying water, acting as a buffer or breaking down harmful substances.
Cultural services
Cultural services include a great variety of civilisation-oriented service functions, such as giving aesthetic, emotional or spiritual inspiration, providing recreation opportunities or serving as a model for scientific discoveries (bionics).
Supporting services
Ecosystems support different production activities, by maintaining the water cycle and soil fertility as well as the production of biomass and foods.
Reasons for the loss of biological diversity
Research shows that a decrease in biodiversity usually lowers the services and the stability of ecosystems. Humans and the activities we engage in can have signifcant effect on ecosystems and biodiversity through various different impact factors.
The factors with the highest impact on biodiversity are:
Habitat transformation
Both the extensive cultivation of natural habitats and their fragmentation force changes in existing ecosystems. This also involves the destruction of habitats in coastal and marine systems, for example, through the use of bottom trawling.
Best Practice Examples: KfW Bankengruppe - green light for the storks – Gabal el Zayt wind farm, Egypt
The KfW Bankengruppe is concerned about the impacts its projects have on biodiversity. For example, the KfW Entwicklungsbank together with the European Investment Bank and the European Commission were slated to finance 200 MW of the Egyptian Gabal el Zayt 630 km² wind farm with a total output of up to 3,000 MW. This western Egypt location is also a main bird migratory corridor. An extensive bird migration study, stipulated by the KfW Entwicklungsbank, recommended the southern area of the project, accounting for around 60% of the originally planned area, be left untouched for bird migration. The Egyptian government agreed to this and adjusted its plans accordingly, leaving the area untouched for the bids.
Climate change
Climate change leads to an alteration of existing ecosystems. Examples include progressive desertification or the loss of high-alpine zones. But climate change also modifies species behaviour, reproduction, competitiveness and feeding relationships, which leads to shifts in their geographic range. This endangers those species whose original range shrinks or disappears.
Human adaptation strategies to climate change – for example, in flood and coastal defence or in agriculture and forestry – also affect biodiversity. The IPCC estimates that an increase in temperature of 1.5 - 2.5°C would threaten between 20 and 30% of plant and animal species.
Invasive species (Neobiota)
With the help of humans, species can spread to new areas. For example, this can happen on purpose, when agricultural plants are imported, or unintentionally, when ballast water is discharged from ocean-going vessels. In new habitats the non-native species can displace native species, transmit disease or change the genetic pool.
Overexploitation
The greatest threat to marine systems is overfishing. Currently 50% of the commercially-fished stocks are being fully exploited and 25% overexploited.
The specialisation and rationalisation that goes hand in hand with an intensification of agricultural and forestry production leads to a loss of biodiversity. This especially affects the diversity of cultivated plants and animal breeding (aggro-biodiversity).
Pollution
Every company emits pollutants into the surrounding environment. Agricultural over-fertilisation is a prime example of the danger to biological diversity from pollution. This leads to the loss of nutrient-poor systems and to the displacement of species living in these habitats. The accumulation of persistent toxic substances and toxic pollutants, caused, for example, by shipwrecks, also endangers biodiversity.
Best Practice Examples: Der Grüne Punkt - Duales System Deutschland - Environmental certificate for every Customer
DSD provides its customers with an Environmental Success Report, in which the results and savings based on packaging recycling are calculated and laid out. The calculations contained in these reports are verified and confirmed by an independent institute. Since 2007, DSD has been the first system operator to certify for its 500 biggest customers how much CO2 they have saved by having their packages recycled. Starting in 2008, DSD began specifying this amount for all its customers.
Der Grüne Punkt – Duales System Deutschland GmbH (DSD)
Best Practice Examples: Der Grüne Punkt - Duales System Deutschland - Agenda for sustainable packaging
DSD is concerned about the packaging life cycle and is cooperating with many manufacturers to develop a way to keep the packaging materials even longer in the business cycle (cradle-to-cradle). With the company’s Environmental Success Report, DSD has been able to collect information on its environmental impact, as well as gather specific indicators on the further development of packaging recycling. DSD has joined forces with selected partners from the retailing, filling and package manufacturing sectors to set up the “Sustainable Packaging Agenda” pilot project.
Der Grüne Punkt – Duales System Deutschland GmbH (DSD)
Determining the extent of biological diversity loss is no easy task, assessments of known threatened species, (eg. Red List) show that many of these are either endangered or critically endangered. The threat to biodiversity has increased over the past decades. The WWF estimates that the number of species declined by 30% between 1970 and 2005. A number of studies also show that the loss of biological diversity is accompanied by high macro- and micro-economic costs.
Protecting biodiversity
To limit the worldwide loss of genetic diversity, species and habitats, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) enacted the 
Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). This convention pursues the following goals:
- The conservation of biodiversity;
- The sustainable use of biodiversity;
- The fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from of the use of genetic resources.
