Answer :

Meiosis is the reproduction of cells that don't exchange DNA, its important because if you have a cut on your hand, you wouldn't want mitosis to go through or you could end up with a stomach sell on your hand. Meiosis reproduces the same type of cell, for example somatic cells(human cells).
Meiosis provides genetic diversity. Mitosis is used in most cell reproduction (which is fine when they do the same job). Meiosis is like sexual reproduction for cells, with the acceptation that there is only one parent cell.