Author: Miha
Slovenia is the absolute champion in Europe in terms of the number of species per square kilometre of territory.
Picture 1: Dragon Lake
Image by Miha Turk
Slovenia is one of the biodiversity hotspots in Europe. Our country lies at the crossroads of the Alpine, Pannonian, Dinaric and Mediterranean biogeographical regions. It is characterized by a varied relief, diverse rock base and varied soil and climatic conditions. The consequence of such diversity factors is the great diversity of ecosystems and plant and animal species.
Absolute European champion
Scientists have so far recorded about 24.000 living species in Slovenia. Among them are 3.200 species of higher plants, 1.200 species algae, 3.000 species of fungi and 15.000 species of animals. More as a quarter of animal species are endemic.
Slovenia is the absolute champion in Europe in terms of the number of species per square kilometre of territory. According to some biodiversity indicators is among the richest even in the world. In European ecosystems are important mainly vast forests covering more than half of the country. Our country is our homeland karst, which is set with the richest cave fauna in the world. Slovenia covers a modest 0.004 percent of the earth’s surface, but at the same time is home to more than 2 percent of known terrestrial animal species.
Regardless of such species richness, they are too declining trends are noticeable in our country biodiversity. There was a big contraction wetlands that have been drained for agriculture over the past decades. The ones left are under lately severe pressure of urbanization. The damage was also suffered by the traditional agricultural landscape, which is increasingly biotical depleted due to the need for the cheapest, monocultural food production using agrochemicals.
Every inhabitant of Slovenia theoretically has one hectare of Slovenian territory available but it uses the ecosystem services of as many as four and a half hectares of land.
Green deal – plan to restore biodiversity
Slovenia also takes big part in the European green Deal which was first presented in December of 2019 and whose primary goal is to build a more sustainable European economy. This includes a new growth strategy that will transform the European Union into a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy where there will be no net emissions of greenhouse gases by the 2050, where economic growth will be a decoupled from resource use and where no person and place is left behind.
Biodiversity loss and the climate crisis are interdependent. When one gets worse, so does the other. Restoring forests, soils and wetlands and creating green spaces in cities is essential to achieving the climate change mitigation needed by 2030.
The Green Deal provides a plan to restore biodiversity and cut pollution. European Union aims to be climate neutral in 2050 and reaching this target will require action by all sectors of our economy such as investing in environmentally friendly technologies, supporting industry to innovate, decarbonising the energy sector, choosing cheaper and cleaner forms of public transport and ensuring buildings are more energy efficient. The plan also includes making the EU a world leader in addressing the global biodiversity crisis.
Why should we conserve biodiversity?
Nature has a wonderful attribute of self-cleaning, self-renewal and development. However, only as long as our exploitation remains within the limits of sustainable use.
It is very difficult to imagine that in nature it is all connected, interdependent, and that these connections are very complex. Bugs and tiny insects in the soil are small but indispensable components of human life that must maintain balance, power renewal, cleansing, and growth to be human can survive.
Insects need to pollinate our crops; aquatic plants, snails, vortices, crustaceans, and other small organisms must maintain the self-cleaning power of our rivers. For us perhaps insignificant beetles must be food for birds and bats to take care of it, that we do not get unpleasant or harmful insects reproduced too much… Plants must retain the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere at which we have evolved, and which is fit for our life.
The consequences of for example, the disappearance of some butterfly species are not shown immediately. We know the diversity of species and habitats give nature stability, from which we depend on. This stability means that we have the guaranteed goods we are used to – drinking water, a suitable climate, food, and crops. Broken stability of nature for us means the occurrence of unforeseen and unforeseen events.
The world has exceeded the limits of sustainable use in the 80 ‘s years of the 20th century. First because of ignorance and no knowledge of natural laws, and later due to selfishness and indifference to what is common with us. At the beginning of the third millennium, the burden on ecosystems by humanity exceeded the absorption and the regenerative capacity of planet Earth.
Today, despite the complexity of nature and ignorance of all the details, we know enough that no knowledge is no longer an excuse. We just cannot afford indifferency anymore!
Current problem
In these times a big problem for Slovenian biodiversity and nature is also Covid-19 crisis which has mutated from a health issue to a full-blown economic and societal crisis. The whole world is affected, and states in both hemispheres are attempting different measures to try to save their economies. In Slovenia, on 30th April, the government announced a new “anti‑Corona law”, to protect the health of their citizens and “revive the economy – especially the building sector”. But the government also snuck in measures to completely undermine the country’s environmental safeguards.
They excluded environmental NGOs from participating in formal Environmental Impact Assessments. For some large construction projects such as windfarms or powerlines or investments in agricultural intensification, Environmental Impact Assessments are not even required at all. And many of the EIAs that are currently running can simply be cancelled. On top of that, deadlines to file lawsuits at the administrative court – an essential legal tool against environmental crimes – have been cut back from 30 to 15 days.
So, how can we help at the moment?
At the moment, we can help the Institute of the Republic of Slovenia for Nature Protection. When you notice one of the four species of beetles – carob, alpine, oak or beech goat, enter your observations on the web portal www.sporocivrsto.si. You will help them collect data on rare, endangered, Natura 2000 species of beetles.
We can also help the nature and biodiversity by recycling, using bikes and public transport, eating local food, using eco friendly products and so on. There are many more ways to preserve biodiversity, but we all need to consider them. Let me end this article with this quote by Helen Keller: “Alone, we can do so little; together we can do so much.”
Sources:
https://zrsvn-varstvonarave.si/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Biodiverziteta__Koncna_verzija_2306.pdf
https://www.zurnal24.si/slovenija/25-let-slovenije/slovenija-je-vroca-tocka-273261
https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/priorities-2019-2024/european-green-deal_sl
Miha Turk
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