World Environment Day is celebrated on June 5 every year to encourage awareness about the need for protection of our environment. World Environment Day 2020 theme is ‘Celebrate Biodiversity’ encouraging people in environmental conversation and sustainable living. The United Nations explains the theme as "a concern that is both urgent and existential. Recent events, from bushfires in Brazil, the United States, and Australia to locust infestations across East Africa – and now, a global disease pandemic – demonstrate the interdependence of humans and the webs of life, in which they exist." This year's event shall be hosted in Colombia, in partnership with Germany. As we observe World Environment Day 2020, here is meaning of biodiversity, its types and some examples. World Environment Day 2020: Mind-Boggling Facts About Nature That Will Leave You in Awe of Our Green Planet!

Meaning of Biodiversity

Biodiversity is the variety of life on Earth including everything from genetic, species, and ecosystem level. It is the foundation that supports life on land and water. The biodiversity provides air, water, food, medicines and everything humans need to survive. Altering an element from this affects the whole life system and can event lead to negative consequences. There are majorly three types of biodiversity which is listed below. World Environment Day 2020: From Facewash to Coffee, Daily Use Things & Activities You Have No Idea Are Damaging the Environment! Here's What You Can Do For a Sustainable Future.

Types of Biodiversity

Genetic Diversity

Every species on Earth is related to every other species through genetic connections. When two species are closely related, the more genetic information they share and the more similar they will appear.

For example, one eastern gray squirrel shares the vast majority of its genes with other eastern gray squirrels even if in the same area or thousands of miles apart.  How to Celebrate World Environment Day 2020 at Home? From Segregating Waste to Saving Water, 5 Ways in Which You Can Observe the Day. 

Species Diversity

Species diversity is the variety of species within a habitat or a region. A total of five to 10 million species are present throughout the Earth, though only 1.75 million have been named scientifically so far.

For example, tropical North and South America has about 85,000 flowering plant species, while tropical and subtropical Asia has more than 50,000 and tropical and subtropical Africa has about 35,000 such plants.

Ecological Diversity

Ecological diversity is the network of different species present in local ecosystems and the relation between them. An ecosystem consists of organisms from different species living together in a region and their connections through energy, nutrients and matter.

For example, the sun’s radiant energy is converted to chemical energy by plants. The energy then flows through the systems when animals eat the plants. And then the fungi get energy by decomposing organisms that release nutrients back into the soil.

Some of the human activities that have affected our biodiversity include encroachment of wildlife habitats, over agriculture and climate change among many others. If we continue this pattern, the food and health system could collapse very soon. Since 1974, it has been celebrated every year on June 5, engaging governments, celebrities and citizens to focus on pressing environmental issue.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 04, 2020 09:43 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).