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Value and Importance of Wildlife: Economic, Aesthetic, Ethical, Cultural, Scientific & Ecological Significance
Wildlife plays a vital role in maintaining ecological balance while providing economic, cultural, scientific, aesthetic, and ethical benefits to society. Its importance extends beyond biodiversity, contributing to agriculture, medicine, tourism, food resources, and environmental stability. Understanding the value and importance of wildlife is essential for promoting its conservation and sustainable management.
1. Game Value
Due to its value as game, wildlife has a higher economic value than that realized from the direct sale of its meat and hides. It has recreational value for those who hunt or fish for sport.
Many businesses cater to their needs by producing firearms or fishing tackle, camping equipment, recreational vehicles, or by providing accommodation, food, or beverages, thus generating considerable revenue.
2. Aesthetic Value
Wildlife deserves preservation due to its enchanting beauty and sheer appeal to the human spirit. Worldwide, this aesthetic value has become increasingly important and provides economic justification for wildlife conservation.
Wildlife attracts a large number of tourists and serves as a principal source of foreign exchange, especially in countries such as Kenya.
3. Ethical Value
As human beings, we should realize that plants and animals also have a right to live on this planet, and thus proper ecological security should be provided to them. We should appreciate that every species of wildlife is a unique creation of nature and cannot be manufactured by humans.
4. Cultural Value
In various cultures around the world, wildlife has occupied a special place of veneration and preservation. The paintings and carvings in caves and other ancient historical sites further stand as testimony to the integral cultural association of wildlife with humans.
In religion, history, and superstition, there are several examples of the protection of wildlife: Chanakya’s game laws in the Arthashastra in the third century BC; the religious value of trees; holy books containing edicts for conservation; the Ashoka pillar edict giving names of wildlife species to be afforded protection; and Kalidasa’s Abhyaranya pleading for wildlife protection, etc.
5. Scientific Value
Knowledge gained from research on wildlife provides many spin-offs that are of direct value to humans. In terms of scientific value, scientists contend that even the smallest creature—even a slug—can benefit mankind by yielding scientific knowledge and even cures for diseases. By way of illustration, they point to the fungus that produced penicillin, the bark of the yew tree that offers a treatment for some forms of cancer, and an Asian viper’s venom that is used in a stroke-prevention medicine.
Chemicals from sea sponges and some marine organisms might block inflammation associated with arthritis and fight cancer. Plants and small creatures also benefit agriculture: farmers use insects, plants, and other animals as alternatives to synthetic chemicals for pest and predator control.
6. Ecological Value
It is now understood that the existence of any component of our ecosystem is essential for the stability of the system.
Some examples of the ecological value of wildlife are:
- Entomophagous birds (e.g., the ‘rosy starling’ and smaller hawks, which voraciously consume serious crop pests such as locusts) can consume more food than their own weight in 24 hours and play an immense role in the development of agriculture and forestry.
- If left unchecked, a single pair of rats could increase in one year to 880. Large owls, such as the great horned owl or wood owl, can eat as many as 7 rats a day and play an important role in controlling destructive rats and mice.
- Monoculture forestry (e.g., Eucalyptus) is more prone to insect-borne plant diseases because it does not have foliage in which birds can rest and feed.
- Animals and birds are indicators of the health of the environment. E.g., birds such as canaries, with exceptionally high metabolic rates, can be kept inside coal mines to detect the presence of CO2 and other noxious gases; fish serve as indicators of potable water.
7. Commercial Value
Wildlife is a potential source of useful products of global interest.
Wildlife as Food
Wildlife resources constitute an important source of food for people living in hills and forests. The commercial value of wildlife is best seen in the world’s marine fisheries, yielding perhaps 70 MT of food. This constitutes a significant percentage of the world’s animal protein, and its value is estimated in billions of dollars.
Wildlife in Medicine
Medications used in the treatment of various ailments owe their origins to plants and animals rather than synthesized commercial chemical products. However, there is considerable variation in the purported therapeutic value of different parts, organs, and secretions of wild animals, and such claims require thorough scientific study.
Trade in Wildlife Products
Products of global trade interest include fur, wool, skin, horn, hoof, meat, ivory, bone, fats, bile salts, bone charcoal, bone glues, trophies, perfumes, cosmetics, medicines, etc. Unchecked trade in wildlife products has considerably decimated rare wild fauna.
Trade in Live Animals
Such trade provides a means of support for many people who cater to people’s desire to own unusual or exotic pets, or to meet the demands of scientific or educational institutions. Flying squirrels, marmots, lemurs, monkeys, pheasants, frogs, etc., are mainly used for trade.
