Biodiversity is the foundation for sustainable urban and rural living. It generates the ecosystem processes that regulate air, soil and water quality, maintain soil fertility, and break down domestic, industrial and agricultural wastes. Biodiversity therefore underpins five of our most important industries - agriculture, pastoralism, forest, fisheries and tourism as well as many aspects of daily life.

Recent exploration of biodiversity has revealed an unexpected variety of important bioresources including new materials for the construction, pharmaceutical and robotics industries. It is now recognised that biodiversity is an irreplaceable source of novel products of immense commercial value.

Biodiversity is essential for all Australians, in the services and products it provides, and in the ways the natural environment defines our lifestyle, culture and economy. It is therefore essential that we understand it, conserve it and use it wisely.

Biodiversity is the variety of all species on Earth and includes the genes they contain and the ecosystems of which they are part. It is the product of millions of years of evolution that have shaped the natural communities, species and gene pools we see today.

To Understand Biodiversity

To Conserve Biodiversity

To Use Biodiversity Sustainably