State three reasons why biodiversity should be conserved.

Narrowly utilitarian reasons: it gives us food, fibre, timber, firewood and the great majority of our medicines. Broadly utilitarian reasons: it maintains the ecosystem services of oxygen production, pollination, and the cycling of water and nutrients. Ethical reasons: every species has an intrinsic value and we owe it to future generations to hand the earth on undiminished.

No citable source has been recorded for this record. Treat it as practice material, not as fact.

Explanation

The Amazon forest alone is estimated to produce a large share of the earth's oxygen.