We live in a truly blessed region of the planet, which is known for its clean and green environment as well as for its unique biodiversity, with a significant number of species endemic to the region. Even our capital city, Perth, is considered the wildlife capital of the world because of the diversity of species of plants, amphibians, birds, and reptiles that live here. Furthermore, Western Australia is naturally free from many species of organisms that are harmful to plants and animals. These harmful organisms are known to cause millions of dollars of losses in the areas where they are present. These losses are irreversible and intergenerational.
The founding members of our club were visionary thinkers and planners. It is evident from their initiatives and the opportunities they created by way of establishing a naturalists’ club for the community to learn and enjoy the natural environment and its biodiversity. They also entrusted the members of the club with the responsibility of safeguarding the natural environment and its biodiversity for the present and future generations. Our natural environment and its biodiversity have been and continue to be eroded by various human interventions and we are losing species of plants, animals, and microbes. Politicians, the heads of governments, unfortunately understand and recognise the importance of a given object, resource, or commodity if there is an indication of its monetary value. As decision makers, they are often caught between the value of business proposals with clear projections of benefits in terms of new jobs and revenue generation versus value of losing diversity of species. There is generally no or unsatisfactory consideration of the intrinsic, economic and ecosystem service value of the species being lost because in most cases there is little information available. We have spent time and resources to assess the value of losses caused by the harmful organisms, also known as pests and diseases, but have not cared to properly assess the value of the organisms that provide beneficial services to the environment and humanity.
Recent studies show that in Australia about 70 percent species have not yet been discovered. This appears to be a grossly conservative estimate as on a global basis, it is estimated that at least half of the living biomass on the planet is microbial and less than 0.1 percent has so far been characterised. I often wonder why we do not have a university solely dedicated to discovering and understanding the role of each and every species in our Western Australian ecosystem! It is not only our moral obligation to safeguard our natural biodiversity, but also to study and understand its role and its intrinsic, economic and ecosystem service value. It is not possible to assess the importance of the biodiversity and put an accurate price tag when the bulk of the species present have not even been discovered. Government’s inclination to support economic development projects at the cost of biodiversity loss must be questioned by the community. It should be mandatory on the part of any proposed economic development project to fully assess the species likely to be impacted and implications of losing them. The failure to account for the real values of biodiversity and ecosystem services in decision-making is one of the main contributing factors to biodiversity loss and degradation of the natural environment.
The way we nurture and manage our natural environment and biodiversity needs reformation. The community-led conservation organisations, such as our club, must become an important partner in decision-making and governance of biodiversity conservation programs. The community must take responsibility for ensuring that the direction politicians and governments take and resources they expend are consistent with the mission of natural environment and biodiversity conservation for the present and future generations. The community must hold political system, governments, private sector, and academia to account, measuring the consistency of their plans and actions with exploring and safeguarding the natural environment and biodiversity. In this regard, I would like to share with you some relevant text from my recent letter as President of the club to Premier Mark McGowan regarding the detrimental effects caused by the fire lit by the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions near Perup area on 25 March. I wrote:
In Western Australia, we are blessed with pristine environment and unique biodiversity, and conservation of these assets is everyone’s responsibility. Government alone cannot adequately fulfil this responsibility, and, at the same time, community organisations cannot do it alone. The synergistic partnership between the government and community organisations is the key to safeguarding the environment and the biodiversity.
In addition to raising our concerns regarding the numbat incident and our strong recommendation to you to instigate an independent review of the incident, we offer to partner with your government and create synergy for safeguarding the environment and the biodiversity of the state for the present and the future generations…
The Premier has not yet responded; however, our approach will be to work with the government as well as with approximately 100+ community organisations/groups that are active in the natural environment and biodiversity conservation space in our state. Our club has a vital and significant role to play in the coming decades in exploring and safeguarding our natural environment and biodiversity for the present and future generations.
Shashi Sharma