Get Informed!

On Biodiversity

Across ecosystems, biodiversity is declining at unprecedented rates, driven in large part by human-induced contamination and overexploitation of natural resources.

Biodiversity is crucial for the health of ecosystems, human well-being, and the planet's overall stability. It provides essential resources like food, clean water, and medicines, supports resilient ecosystems, and helps regulate the climate. 

Biodiversity is life on Earth.

Why Biodiversity Creates More Stable and Resilient Ecosystems

• An increased variety of species leads to functional redundancy and greater adaptability to environmental changes.

• Diverse ecosystems have more species that can perform similar functions, so if one species is lost, another can step in to maintain the ecosystem's health and function.

• This functional redundancy, along with species interactions like predator-prey relationships, ensures that ecosystems can better withstand disturbances and recover from them. 

Key Contaminants and Pressures Threatening Biodiversity

• Chemical runoff from pesticides, fertilizers, and heavy metals alters soil and freshwater systems, weakening the foundation of food webs.

• Airborne pollutants and acid deposition disrupt sensitive forest and alpine ecosystems.

• Plastic waste, from macro debris to microplastics, persists in soils and waterways, physically harming organisms and chemically interfering with growth and reproduction.

• Overexploitation of natural resources, including deforestation, mining, and water overuse, drives habitat loss and amplifies contamination risks.

Ecological Consequences

• Reduced species richness, particularly among invertebrates, amphibians, and specialist plants.

• Soil degradation through microbial imbalance and excess contamination, impairing regeneration and nutrient cycling.

• Loss of ecological function and stability, as crucial species disappear from ecosystems and cause multiple levels of food chain collapse.

• Disrupted migration and reproduction, especially in aquatic and riparian systems affected by chemical loads and debris.

Our Role

Project ARISE seeks to combine research with restoration to not only combat biodiversity loss, but to help reverse it:

• We host conservation events to remove pollutants and contamination from our environment, and restore native species and habitats.

• We build networks of citizen volunteers, empowering communities to reclaim contaminated landscapes and protect biodiversity at the ground level.

• We bring capacity, visibility, and community support to local initiatives — biodiversity restoration is a global collaboration!