Biodiversity: How Important a Resource?

Abstract

Biodiversity is by no means a new concept; it has been exploited by man in all its manifestations from the time of the earliest agro-pastoralist societies. Indeed, the capability to Impose selective change on the biotic environment has arguably been the single most significant factor contributing to human dominance of terrestrial ecosystems, Our present concern is to identify how biodiversity can be used as a model for managing the environment, and hence for conservation, and in the context of practical agricultural production.