Red Sea tunicates photo: WWF-Canon/Sylvia Earle

Many people believe that biodiversity should be preserved not just because it is valuable to us in some way, but simply because it exists. People who hold this opinion believe that each species should be respected and protected because it is the product of many thousands or millions of years of evolution, and we have no right to interrupt the evolutionary process.

They also argue that we have no right to destroy something we did not create and that future generations deserve a natural world that is rich and varied. Because we have the power to destroy species and ecosystems, they say, humans have a moral obligation to be careful stewards of the Earth.

Our children will inherit the planet with whatever biodiversity we pass on to them. The decisions we make as individuals and as a society today will determine the diversity of genes, species, and ecosystems that remain in the future.

Many of these decisions are not easy, especially when they involve balancing the immediate needs, rights, and desires of individuals and communities with the measures necessary to protect nature for the long term. Understanding what biodiversity is and how different people value it is an essential first step to designing strategies for long-term conservation.