What does biodiversity mean?
Biodiversity ( biological diversity ) indicates different animal species or plant varieties, where earth life starts.
Defending biodiversity means defending the extraordinary earth life variety.
Animals and plant varieties live in different habitats, and each habitat is different for weather and temperature.
If an animal or plant variety dies out, it could happen that no other animal or plant is able to live in that habitat.
Protecting biodiversity is important because, if a specie dies out, food and life chances lessen and earth ecological balance is threatened.
Rice fields are an excellent habitat for many plant and animal species such as algae, plants, fishes, amphibiouses, reptiles, molluscs, crustaceans and insects. Animal species are an importante source for rural communities and they are, often, a reserve, in case of bad harvest and food shortage.
For many farmers, fishes and other aquatic organisms, living in the rice fields, are main, and often only, animal proteins source.
Rice farming is well combined with other productive activities, like fish and ducks breeding or like straw exploitation to feed animals.
Ducks and fishes feed, in their turn, on algae and small aquatic organisms, while cattle is useful for transportation and for soil preparation, and also for organic fertilizers production.
Rice fields animals and plants depend, for survival, on each other: they are part of a food chain.
Rice fields ecosystem protection guarantees better quantity and quality of food, for farmers, and it guarantees biodiversity conservation.
