Biodiversity: Resources, national capital and politics

Abstract

This article is a brief summary of biodiversity as a concept and its implementation in the world stage and in Ethiopia. Biodiversity is the lifeline for all and needs to be protected whereby every citizen has a stake. Its history goes back in time as an activism at first that later metamorphosed to a full-fledged science. It further grew as a political discourse amongst the policy-makers and scientists. It was subsequently followed by a number of conventions targeted to protecting biodiversity, some of which were realized and others were not. Ethiopia has a special relevance and place when it comes to biodiversity for the rest of the world because of its unique biodiversity and landscape position. Ethiopia has been a center of origin (and domestication) for some plant species and also a center of diversity for others.