The term biodiversity, translated from the English “biodiversity,” itself an abbreviation of “biological diversity,” was coined in 1988 by the American entomologist Edward O. Wilson.

Biodiversity can be described as the richness of life on Earth, encompassing millions of plants, animals, fungi and bacteria, including all the genes they carry and the complex ecosystems they form within the biosphere.
This diversity goes beyond the variation in the forms and structures of living beings; it extends to the abundance, distribution, and interaction among the different components of the system. In other words, within ecosystems, living organisms and physical or inorganic components coexist and interact in a delicate balance, influencing one another. Furthermore, biodiversity also encompasses human cultural diversity, which can be negatively impacted by the same factors affecting natural biodiversity.

The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity defines biodiversity as the broad spectrum and variation of living organisms and the ecological systems that constitute their environment, including genetic diversity, species diversity, and ecosystem diversity