HUMAN VALUES AND BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY: ARE WE WASTING OUR TIME?

The issue of biodiversity is examined from the viewpoint of human values and three questions are posed: What kinds of human values affect biological diversity? Why do humans think about the loss and conservation of biological diversity? Does it really matter? The conclusion is that human values are contributing to the loss of biological diversity and could lead to massive extinctions in the future just as major natural events did in the past. However, as it did in the past, evolution will continue, so will speciation, and so will biological diversity.