Suffice it to say that in getting to understand the concept of biodiversity conservation and national development, one must first understand the meaning of the  different concepts thus; ‘BIODIVERSITY’, ‘CONSERVATION’, ‘NATIONAL’ and DEVELOPMENT.

Firstly what is biodiversity? Well According to Merriam Webster’s English dictionary, biodiversity simply means “biological diversity in an environment as indicated by numbers of different species of plants and animals. Also, biodiversity as defined by Wikipedia; is the variety and variability of life on earth. The term biodiversity was coined as a contraction of “biological diversity” in the year 1985 by biologist E. O Wilson in his book “biodiversity” (Wilson 1988)which heralded the popularity of this concept. The global importance of biodiversity now is reflected in the widely accepted target to achieve a significant reduction in the rate of loss of biological diversity. in common sense it is passable to say that biodiversity means diversity of species both plant and animals existing in a community.

Dealing with the next concept which we already seem to be familiar with which is conservation. Still making references to my previous authority Merriam Webster, conservation means: a careful preservation and protection of something; especially planned management of a natural resource to prevent exploitation, destruction, or neglect or a simply the preservation of physical quantity during transformation. In addition to this definition the oxford dictionary states that conservation is the protection of the natural environment. From the above drawn definitions, it is quite limpid that biodiversity conservation is the protection and management of biodiversity to obtain resources for sustainable development for future generations. One might ask, “Why Is it important to conserve biodiversity and what has it to do with national development?” well as you read through you find out all of this for yourself.

This then brings us to the next concept which a lot of us are familiar with. The word National is simply relating to an entire Nation or country, if a matter is born in the spirit of nationality then it concerns the entire country or nation. On the other hand Development is the gradual growth of something so that it becomes stronger and advance. It is a process of becoming a better version of what was.

In total summary, National development is a process of reconstruction and development of a nation and also the development of individuals. It includes the full growth and expansion of our agriculture, education system, social, cultural and religious institutions. Moreover national development implies development of a nation as a whole. It can best be defined as the all-round and balanced development of different aspects and facet of the nation.

With this step by step examination of the various concepts, it is limpid and passable to say that there is much more enlightenment on the idea of BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. Hence this bring us to the main reason for this article which are the potentials and challenges. In discussing about the potentials of biodiversity conservation, one might ask what the possibilities of reserving biodiversity are in a growing society and why is it important that we conserve biodiversity? What are the challenges involved in conservation in a growing society? Should biodiversity be ignored? In these article we would try to provide answer to these questions to satisfy your curiosity and also educate you. First of we would start with the objectives of biodiversity conservation, what it seeks to achieve in a developing nation.

Biodiversity conservation has three main objectives:

·      To preserve the diversity of species.

·      Sustainable utilization of species and ecosystem.

·      Maintain life supporting system and essential ecological processes.

Why is it important to conserve biodiversity?

Biodiversity conservation is important because biodiversity provides certain services and resources that are essential for life on earth. Because the activities of human beings on earth have affected the eco system in a negative way and species that are very vital to the eco system have either gone extinct or at the bridge of extinction that is why biodiversity conservation is important. Everything on earth was created or have existed for a reason, to bring balance to the eco system as a whole but with most of these unique species taken out of place it causes imbalance on the earth surface. For example humans cut down more trees than they plant and because of this the ozone layer continues to deplete and this affects all life form on earth.

Hence after seeing the importance of biodiversity conservation, it is essential to know the methods of conservation thus:

·      In-situ conservation

·      Ex-situ conservation

In-situ Conservation:

In-situ conservation here has to do with the conservation of species within their natural habitat. With this method maintenance of the natural ecosystem is certain. This method has it added advantage as follows:

1.     It is a very effective and convenient method of conserving biodiversity as it is carried out in the habitats of species.

2.     A large number of species can be conserved simultaneously.

3.     Since such species are seen and conserved in their natural ecosystem they can evolve better and can easily adjust to different environmental conditions.

Examples of areas where in-situ conservation takes place include national parks, wildlife, sanctuaries and biosphere reserves.

Ex-situ conservation

Ex-situ conservation of biodiversity involves the breeding and maintenance of endangered species in artificial ecosystems such as zoos, nurseries, botanical gardens, gene banks, etc. there is less competition for survival among organisms.

Here are some added advantages to Ex-situ conservation:

·      The species conserved are provide with a longer time and breeding activity.

·      The species bred in captivity can be reintroduced to the wild.

·      Genetic techniques can be used for the preservation of endangered species

After identifying these methods of conservation, they are also a few strategies the government of a developing society should follow in the conservation of biodiversity as part of national development policies, these strategies are:

                                           I.         Poaching and hunting of wild animals should be prevented

                                         II.         Deforestation should be strictly prohibited.

                                       III.         All the economically important organism should be identified and conserved.

                                       IV.         Environmental laws should be established and followed strictly.

                                         V.         Public awareness should be created regarding biodiversity conservation and its importance.

                                       VI.         More nurseries, gene banks, zoos, botanical gardens should be set up.

There are certain challenges to biodiversity conservation, most of which unawareness, the thought of its unimportance by world leaders and poor funding are paramount, so the way forward; awareness and proper education should be created on its importance. A lay lumberjack would cut down a thousand trees so he could sell to make money and care less about the consequence but if he is informed he would plant more trees. Every government should take biodiversity conservation as a foremost important policy in their government.

In conclusion the protection and management of biodiversity to obtain resources for sustainable development for future generations concerns the entire country or nation and we see that it is possible for the conservation of different species, if we just stop to think about their importance and put in more effort to educating people about it, mostly our leaders because most of them have no idea, they just consume natural resources and never take care of the environment.