Biodiversity in India

India has tremendous biodiversity, genetic as well as of species and ecosystems. It contains over 7 per cent of the world’s biodiversity on 2.5 per cent of the Earth’s surface. This diversity can be at­tributed to the variety of landforms and cli­mates resulting in habitats ranging from tropical to temperate, and from alpine to desert.

Biodiversity in India

India is one of 18 mega bio-diverse countries in the world. With only 2.4 percent of the earth’s land area, it accounts for 7-8 percent of the world’s recorded species. Home to 96,000 species of animals, 47,000 species of plants and nearly half the world’s aquatic plants. India’s management of its natural resources is crucial to protecting global biodiversity.

Conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity have been an integral part of Indian ethos. The varied eco-climatic conditions coupled with unique geological and cultural features have contributed to an astounding diversity of habitats, which harbor and sustain immense biological diversity at all levels.

Biodiversity is therefore considered at 3 major levels:

• Genetic diversity- This is the variety of genetic information contained in all of the individual plants, animals and microorganisms.
• Species diversity-This is the variety of species or the living organisms.
• Ecosystem diversity- This relates to the variety of habitats, biotic communities and ecological processes in the biosphere.

Reasons of Biodiversity Loss

The main cause of the loss of biodiversity can be attributed to the influence of human beings on the world’s ecosystem, In fact human beings have deeply altered the environment, and have modified the territory, exploiting the species directly, for example by fishing and hunting, changing the biogeochemical cycles and transferring species from one area to another of the planet.

• Alteration and loss of the habitats: The transformation of the natural areas determines not only the loss of the vegetable species, but also a decrease in the animal species associated to them.
• Introduction of exotic species and genetically modified organisms: Species originating from a particular area, introduced into new natural environments can lead to different forms of imbalance in the ecological equilibrium.
• Pollution: Human activities influences the natural environment producing negative, direct or indirect, effects that alter the flow of energy, the chemical and physical constitution of the environment and abundance of the species.
• Climate change: Heating of the Earth’s surface affects biodiversity because it endangers all the species that adapted to the cold due to the latitude (the Polar species) or the altitude (mountain species).
• Overexploitation of resources: When the activities connected with capturing and harvesting (hunting, fishing, farming) a renewable natural resource in a particular area is excessively intense, the resource itself may become exhausted, as for example, is the case of sardines, herrings, cod, tuna and many other species that man captures without leaving enough time for the organisms to reproduce.

Significance of Biodiversity

Biodiversity is important to humans for many reasons. Biodiversity is also considered by many to have intrinsic value-that is, each species has a value and a right to exist, whether or not it is known to have value to humans. Some of the following causes are:

• Economic: Biodiversity provides humans with raw materials for consumption and production. Many livelihoods, such as those of farmers, fishers and timber workers, are dependent on biodiversity.
• Ecological life support: Human life is inextricably linked to ecological services provided by other organisms. Soil formation, waste disposal, air and water purification, solar energy absorption, nutrient cycling and food production all depend on biodiversity. In many environments, high diversity may help biological communities to withstand environmental stress better and to recover more quickly than those with fewer species.
• Recreation: Many recreational pursuits rely on our unique biodiversity, such as bird watching, hiking, camping and fishing. Our tourism industry also depends on biodiversity.
• Cultural: The culture is closely connected to biodiversity through the expression of identity, through spirituality and through aesthetic appreciation. We Indians have strong connections and obligations to biodiversity arising from spiritual beliefs about animals and plants.
• Scientific: Biodiversity represents a wealth of systematic ecological data that help us to understand the natural world and its origins.

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment in 2005 was the first global effort to examine links between human wellbeing and biodiversity. The assessment found benefits to societies from biodiversity in material welfare, security of communities, resilience of local economies, relations among groups in communities, and human health.

Strategies for Conservation of Biodiversity

In-situ biodiversity conservation

In-situ conservation means the conservation of species within their natural habitats, this way of conserving biodiversity is the most appropriate method for biodiversity conservation. In this strategy you have to find out the area with high biodiversity means the area in which number of plants and animals are present

Ex-Situ conservation methods

Ex-situ conservation involves the conservation of biological diversity outside of their natural habitats through different techniques like Z00, captive breeding, botanical garden, and gene bank. This involves conservation of genetic resources, as well as wild and cultivated or species, and draws on a diverse body of techniques and facilities.

Biosphere Reserve

• Biosphere reserves are areas comprising terrestrial, marine and coastal ecosystems. Each reserve promotes solutions reconciling the conservation of biodiversity with its sustainable use.
• Biosphere reserves are ‘Science for Sustainability support sites’- special places for testing interdisciplinary approaches to understanding and managing changes and interactions between social and ecological systems, including conflict prevention and management of biodiversity.
• The Indian government has established 18 Biosphere Reserves in India, which protect larger areas of natural habitat and often include one or more National Parks and Reserves, along buffer zones that are open to some economic uses. Protection is granted not only to the flora and fauna of the protected region, but also to the human communities who inhabit these regions, and their ways of life. Animals are protected and saved here.
• There are 686 biosphere reserves in 122 countries, including 20 transboundary sites. They are distributed as follows:
  • 79 sites in 28 countries in Africa
  • 33 sites in 12 countries in the Arab States
  • 152 sites in 24 countries in Asia and the Pacific
  • 292 sites in 37 countries in Europe and North America
  • 130 sites in 21 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean
• Presently, there are 18 notified biosphere reserves in India

National Parks

• An area, whether within a sanctuary or not, can be notified by the state government to be constituted as a National Park, by reason of its ecological, faunal, floral, geomorphological, or zoological association or importance, needed to for the purpose of protecting & propagating or developing wildlife therein or its environment. No human activity is permitted inside the national park except for the ones permitted by the Chief Wildlife Warden of the state under the conditions given in CHAPTER IV, Wildlife Protection Act (WPA), 1972.
• There are 104 existing national parks in India covering an area of 40,501 km2, which is 1.23% of the geographical area of the country.
• Madhya Pradesh has highest number of National Parks (10) followed by Andaman and Nicobar Islands (9).

Wildlife Sanctuary

• Any area other than area comprised with any reserve forest or the territorial waters can be notified by the State Government to constitute as a sanctuary if such area is of adequate ecological, faunal, floral, geomorphological, natural or zoological significance, for the purpose of protecting, propagating or developing wildlife or its environment. Some restricted human activities are allowed inside the Sanctuary area details of which are given in CHAPTER IV, WPA 1972.
• There are 543 existing wildlife sanctuaries in India covering an area of 118,918 km2, which is 3.62% of the geographical area of the country.
• Andaman and Nicobar Islands has got highest number of Wildlife Sanctuaries (96).

Government Policies and Initiatives

National Biodiversity Action Plan (NBAP)

• National Biodiversity Action Plan (NBAP) is the primary tool for implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) at the country level.
• A National Biodiversity Action Plan was prepared for India in 2008, through an inter-ministerial consultative process.
• Five years later, it was considered necessary to align the existing NBAP in accordance with the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and the Aichi Biodiversity Targets.
• The draft document was prepared and reviewed through a series of national stakeholder consultations and technical review meetings, based on which the “National Biodiversity Action Plan: Addendum 2014 to NBAP 2008” was finalized.

Biological Diversity Act, 2002

• The Biological Diversity Act, 2002, was born out of India’s attempt to realise the objectives enshrined in the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) 1992 which recognizes the sovereign rights of states to use their own Biological Resources.
• The Act aims at the conservation of biological resources and associated knowledge as well as facilitating access to them in a sustainable manner and through a just process.
• For purposes of implementing the objects of the Act, it paved the path for the establishment of the National Biodiversity Authority.

National Biodiversity Authority (NBA)

• The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) was established by the Central Government in 2003 to implement India’s Biological Diversity Act (2002).
• The NBA is a Statutory Body and it performs facilitative, regulatory and advisory functions for the Government of India on issues of conservation and sustainable use of India’s rich biodiversity and associated knowledge with people’s participation, ensuring the process of benefit sharing for wellbeing of present and future generations.
• The mission of NBA is to ensure effective implementation of Biological Diversity Act, 2002 and the Biological Diversity Rules 2004 for conservation of biodiversity, sustainable use of its components and fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of utilization of genetic resources. It is headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

Environmental Information System (ENVIS)

• Realising the importance of Environmental Information, the Government of India, in December, 1982, established an Environmental Information System (ENVIS) as a plan programme.
• The focus of ENVIS since inception has been on providing environmental information to decision makers, policy planners, scientists and engineers, research workers, etc. all over the country.
• ENVIS due to its comprehensive network has been designed as the National Focal Point (NFP) for INFOTERRA, a global environmental information network of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).