Biodiversity
If we pollute the air, water and soil that keep us alive and well, and destroy the biodiversity that allows natural systems to function, no amount of money will save us.
David Suzuki
Evidence from the National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners shows that the average allotment site has up to 30% more wildlife diversity than a typical urban park. The diversity of crops cultivated and more organic methods of cultivation provide havens for wildlife. Organic gardening relies on increased biodiversity (above and below ground) to suppress insect damage—very different from fighting one pest at a time with pesticides. In the ideal growing environment, each species of pest will have a corresponding predator and is therefore unlikely to be able to multiply in such a way as it gets out of control.
Researchers measuring biodiversity on 1,470 fields of 205 farms across 12 regions in Europe and Africa found that intensive organic arable fields showed 45 percent more species richness versus that of non-organic farms. Plants and bee species had the highest gains from living organic, while spiders and earthworms had about the same number of species on the farms, regardless of organic status. But even organic farmers can do more to promote biodiversity on their farms…
“Habitat diversity is the key to species diversity,” said Kurt-Jürgen Hülsbergen, professor at Technische Universität München in Munich, Germany. “The results of the study underline the importance of maintaining and expanding natural landscape features.”