Dear All,

Here is my opinion on how to spend money on biodiversity research that is related to tourism/trade/policy in the European area.

The general question is: What part of current biodiversity is needed for the quality of human life in Europe ?

Considering that:
1) part of biodiversity is directly used for sustaining our life (food species)
2) part of the biodiversity is needed to sustain our food species
3) part of the biodiversity is needed for our biophilia, sense of beauty, aesthetics, culture etc.
4) part of the biodiversity is needed to keep the basic biological processes (e.g. decomposition of organic matter)
5) part of the biodiversity is redundant, is a reserve, insurance of Nature, of no direct relation to human wellbeing

What is the ratio between the five components? Which of the five components is threatened most? Which of the five components needs our action to protect it?

The answer might be, that we can be healthy and happy with 5 habitats, 10 charismatic species, 20 food species, and 1000 supporting species. In such case we shall focus on the conservation and sustainable use issues.

But the answer might be, that we are directly and indirectly dependant on the huge amount of still unknown creatures. In this case we shall focus on further research on the unknown diversity. If it matters, we shall study its richness.

Jan marcin weslawski