Well apparently the general public doesn't. The past couple of days I've been working on a paper (which is why I've been a bit quiet) with one of my graduate students on public concern about biodiversity. It seems that although two- thirds of the public have heard of the term, less than a third actually understand what it means, and likewise less than a third think that it's important to conserve. Luckily more than have of those surveyed thought that two of the most bio-diverse habitats (coral reefs and tropical rain forests) were in urgent need of conservation. It seems that the public was most concerned about big charismatic species like pandas, elephants and bottlenose dolphins than even these important habitats though. Few were concerned about the conservation of poor poison dart tree frogs, which is really troubling as amphibians are disappearing at an alarming rate because of habitat loss, pollution and climate change.
Only 2% of those surveyed had heard of the International Day for Biodiversity and 99.95% were not aware of the UN's International Year of Biodiversity - the survey was done right at the end of that year (2010) so it appears that environmental groups' big push to get the public concerned about biodiversity in that year failed spectacularly. So if environmental groups want to get the public concerned about biodiversity conservation they should unfortunately stop using the term biodiversity- the public doesn't care about it. Instead they should focus on coral reefs and rain forests because they resonate more with the public. Or find some charismatic animals to champion the cause, such as jaguars, dolphins or turtles.
But tomorrow why don't you do your bit - tell a couple of people that bio-diversity is important, that it should be conserved, and that the world would be a poorer, more impoverished place in so many ways without it.
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