We cannot separate human beings from biodiversity. Our vital functions and our health are synergistic with other species. The number of microorganisms we live with is greater than the total number of cells in our bodies. So, separation from biodiversity and its loss are the greatest threats to human survival, and the current model for human development affects our very lives. We must integrate marine and terrestrial life to understand our interdependence with biodiversity. Colombia, a megadiverse country with access to two oceans, is the perfect canvas on which to illustrate this message: nature has sustainable and straightforward solutions to society’s emerging problems. The new challenges of a changing environment raise increasingly relevant questions that we must address to prosper as individuals and as a society. Can we prevent a new pandemic of viral origin? How will we feed a constantly growing population? How will the extinction of biological species affect us? Do we function the same as all other living beings? Are our bodies entire ecosystems for other species? Is there a better model for economic development? This book presents an approach to these discussions based on Colombia’s biodiversity to uncover biodiversity’s beauty and importance: our nature’s tapestry. What we have here is an opportunity that we cannot miss.
- Cover
- Title page
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Foreword
- Them and us
- Prologue
- Acknowledgments
- Chapter 1 - In the beginning everything was ocean
- Colombia was born under the sea
- The oasis in the Caribbean desert
- The Pacific: An ocean on its own terms
- Chapter 2 - Cambrian Park
- Once upon a time at sea...
- The great Cambrian explosion
- A tour of the Cambrian Park
- Chapter 3 - The Last Frontier
- Deep dive
- Five percent explored
- How did a coral conquer the world?
- The temptation of the twilight zone
- Open knowledge for the deep sea
- Chapter 4 - Synergies in the rainforest
- The tree kingdom
- The synergies become the land
- Chapter 5 - From the mountains to the rivers
- From the top
- With the mountains comes change
- There is no life without water
- Chapter 6 - The point of no return
- The race against time
- The sixth great extinction of life
- The arrival of the invaders
- And the weather starts to change
- And deterioration takes the continents
- Do our conservation measures work?
- How will the extinction of species affect us?
- Institutional framework for biodiversity and ecosystem services
- Chapter 7 - Life support
- The essential element
- Water management
- Water disasters
- The plastic era
- The steroid overflow
- The cure is worse than the disease
- Our encounter with water
- Chapter 8 - Microbiota: hidden biodiversity
- Redefining the body
- Probiota
- Our synergies
- What if we don’t function well as an ecosystem?
- And do all living organisms work in the same way?
- Viruses, shapers of life
- Chapter 9 - Zoonoses and pandemics: the cost of altering biodiversity?
- Arboviruses: they emphasize their innateness in humans
- The century of pandemics
- COVID-19: an announced pandemic
- Zoonotic overflow: the danger of disrupting biodiversity
- Chapter 10 - The biodiversity vs. development dilemma
- Can the biodiversity crisis be humanized?
- Discussion of biodiversity vs. development dilemmas, in the classroom
- Hydroelectric
- Legalization of illicit crops
- Invasive species
- GM seeds
- Vegetarian?
- Does the cultivation of oil palm affect biodiversity?
- Chapter 11 - Why do we depend on biodiversity?
- Towards a new development model
- Immediate opportunities
- One last word for education
- References cited
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