Tummy Ache? Blame it on Biodiversity Loss
By Mallika Naguran
 Thanks
to a kind of frog that can no longer be found, millions of people
suffering from stomach ulcers (peptic ulcers) have lost a chance to
heal better.
The southern gastric brooding frog (Rheobatrachus)
discovered in the Australian rainforests in the 1980s intrigued
scientists with its ability to raise its young in the stomach where
enzymes and acids could have digested them instead.
This
amazing fact led to preliminary studies that the baby frogs produced
substances that inhibited acid and enzyme secretions the gastric tract,
or stomach.
As the frog has been extinct, the research stopped prematurely.
"The
valuable medical secrets they held are now gone forever," says Eric
Chivian and Aaron Bernstein, key authors of the newly released book Sustaining Life: How Human Health Depends on Biodiversity.
New treatments for thinning bone disease, kidney failure and cancer
plus a new generation of antibiotics may all stand to be lost unless
the world acts to reverse the alarming rate of biodiversity loss, the
book argues.
It also comprehensively explores the medicinal relevance
of diverse species such as bears, cone snails, sharks, horseshoe crabs
and gymnosperms.
Since
time immemorial, plants and animals have provided solutions to many of
mankind’s quests for health by learning more about how they live
and stay alive in spite of unusual factors.
It has now
unfortunately become increasingly difficult for research in natural
medicinal sources due to the critical reduction of biological
diversity.
As animals become extinct due to climate change
and the destruction of their natural habitats such as rainforests -
both human influences - the chances to study evolution and biology to
better understand our planet become difficult.
The head of
United Nations Environment Programme Achim Steiner describes the rate
of biodiversity loss as reaching 'dramatic proportions'.
"Human
activity, environmental impacts, climate change and loss of
biodiversity have led to the loss of important ecosystems. It's a
tragedy that the world does not understand the value of biodiversity,"
Mr Steinerhe told media.
Who should sit up and take notice of biodiversity loss?
Everyone, says Achim Steiner: "It is no longer the luxury of ecologists
or naturalists to care about preserving biodiversity but society as
well," he said, adding that pharmaceutical companies greatly depend on
nature, not just chemicals, to treating society’s health and
well-being.
Photos courtesy of United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA). Article Contributed By Gaia Discovery.
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