What do biological diversity and ecosystems have to do with fashion?

In 2020, more than 200 major fashion brands (including the luxury group Kering, but also the H&M Group and Adidas) signed the “Fashion Pact”. They pledged to commit to targets in three key areas: curbing global warming, protecting the oceans and restoring biodiversity. But what exactly does the latter mean? And what is the connection to the fashion industry?

ecosystems and ecosystem management

An ecosystem is a system that includes all organisms in a given area, their interactions with each other, and their interactions with the environment. Plants, animals and microorganisms influence each other and together form a community. It includes both “nature” (forests, rivers, meadows) and “culture” (fields, plantations).

The latter systems are “managed” by humans to optimize yields (food, fodder, timber). However, nature can also be managed, often with the overriding aim of preserving (or restoring) biodiversity.

So is it about “nature management”?

There is an important difference between “nature management” and “ecosystem management”. The latter is explicitly about human benefit. Finally, ecosystems perform a number of valuable functions such as pollination of crops, absorption of CO2 from the atmosphere, etc. These are known as ecosystem services.

A decline in these “ecosystem services” can be observed worldwide. This has not only ecological but also economic consequences. An example: In many tropical coastal regions (think of exotic destinations like Fiji, Aruba or Indonesia) there are mangroves. These are coastal forests, with large, thick roots often sticking out of the water. Mangroves are very important for biodiversity and carbon sequestration, but are severely threatened worldwide. The disappearance of mangroves in coastal areas not only harms biodiversity, but also threatens the protection of the coast (and the people who live there) as well as the tourism revenues associated with these attractions. There is a connection between ecology, economy and human carrying capacity that we often think too little about.

loss of biodiversity

Biodiversity is the diversity of life in all forms on earth. It’s not just about the number of species, but also their genetic variation and the interactions between these species in complex ecosystems.

The biological diversity of the earth is decreasing. This is partly due to the ever increasing “extinction” rate. Typically, around one to five species go extinct a year, but scientists estimate that rate is already 100 to 10,000 times higher. Furthermore, “biodiversity loss” is more than just species extinction, it also includes population declines. This is largely due to human development. The enormous population growth has far-reaching and complex consequences, including impacts on freshwater, pressure on agriculture, risk of flooding, more disease, more heat deaths and climate refugees.

And why should we care?

Biodiversity decline is having a bigger impact than we sometimes think. A species lives in and influences an ecosystem. The protection of tigers – to put it bluntly – goes far beyond “saving these beautiful animals”. Predators keep prey populations low. When predators disappear, herbivores are given free rein, and that, too, can have major consequences for an entire ecosystem.

Another example is deforestation. This not only leads to the disappearance of the panda and orangutan, but also has serious consequences for nature and humans. The more trees we cut down, the more CO2 is released (mainly from the forest floor) and the faster the earth warms up. The more natural areas are affected, the greater the risk that (new) viruses will spread from wild animals to humans. As forests decrease, people and animals live closer together. In addition, when we harvest wood, we also come into contact with potential pathogens that would normally remain in a closed ecosystem.

The European Commission states that in 2017 more than a football field of forest disappeared every second. Deforestation is strongest in tropical rainforests. These are disappearing at a rate of 13 million hectares per year. Or also: about the size of Greece.

Biodiversity loss therefore plays a crucial role in all sorts of processes, including climate change, and is associated with many changes. Humans are the main cause of the rapid decline in biodiversity, but they can also do something about it.

Man inside or above an ecosystem?

When we talk about climate change, we’re quick to say, “We’re doing it for the planet and nature,” or “We want to save the earth.” Understandable, because scientists estimate that 99.9 percent of all species are already extinct (on a time scale of 3.5 billion years). What we often forget, however, is that we humans are just one species. The earth has existed for about 4.5 billion years. Humanity about 200,000.

Human impact on the environment and nature has increased exponentially in recent decades. So when we mitigate the effects of climate change, we’re not only doing it “for the planet,” but also (and perhaps most importantly) for ourselves and for those who come after us.

And can we talk about fashion now?

Unfortunately, the fashion industry also contributes to the loss of biodiversity.

About 25 percent of our clothing is made of cotton. We consume clothes like hotcakes. To maintain this rate, a huge area is needed for cotton cultivation. In addition, cotton grows best in warm countries such as China, India, the USA and Brazil. Because cotton is a very thirsty crop, it often pollutes rivers and groundwater in these regions, leading to soil depletion and water shortages. One of the most famous examples is the dried up Aral Sea on the border between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. The lake was once one and a half times the size of the Netherlands. Today only a large sandbox remains.

In addition, growing cotton requires many chemicals that not only damage the soil, but also cause many insects, birds, trees – entire ecosystems – to disappear or wither.

There’s one material that’s even more commonly used than cotton: polyester (62 percent of our clothing contains polyester or a similar petroleum-based material). Tiny microplastics are released every time polyester clothes are washed. These tiny particles flow with the water from our washing machine, through sewers and along rivers and lakes into the sea. Not surprisingly, this is having a major impact on marine ecosystems.

Also during the production process (especially during dyeing, bleaching, coating, post-treatment), very harmful substances often get into the water flows around the production facilities. In the factories where our clothes are made, the waste water is far from always properly treated before being discharged. This will be discussed in more detail in the next post.

Maybe some good news?

The fashion industry is looking for ways to improve. Some of the initiatives that can have a positive impact on biodiversity are:

This is a post by Jasmine Wynants, expert in sustainable fashion. Jasmien supports the fashion industry to become more sustainable by advising and guiding them on circular economy and responsible behavior issues. She also holds workshops, trainings, lectures and more on the subject.

This translated article originally appeared on FashionUnited.nl.