Biodiversity Conservation in India

In this article we will discuss about:- 1. Introduction to Biodiversity Conservation 2. Existing Policy of Biodiversity Conservation 3. Contribution to Indian Economy 4. International Efforts.

Introduction to Biodiversity Conservation:

India is one of 12 mega-diversity countries of the world. The innumerable life forms harboured by the forests, deserts, mountains, other land, air and oceans provide food, fodder, fuel, medicine, textiles, etc.

There are innumerable species, the potential of which is not as yet known. It would therefore be prudent to not only conserve the species we already have information about, but also species we have not get identified and described from economic point of view.

Taxus baccata, a tree found in the sub-Himalayan regions, once believed to be of no value is now considered to be effective in the treatment of certain types of cancer. The diversity of genes, species and ecosystem is a valuable resource that can be tapped as human needs and demands change, the still more basic reasons for conservation are the moral, cultural and religious values.

Major problems with biodiversity conservation in India are:

(i) Low priority for conservation of living natural resources.

(ii) Exploitation of living natural resources for monetary gain.

(iii) Values and knowledge about the species and ecosystem inadequately known,

(iv) Unplanned urbanisation and uncontrolled industrialisation.

Biodiversity conservation in India is also impeded by a lack of knowledge of the magnitude, patterns, causes and rates of deforestation and biodiversity loss at the ecosystem and landscape level.

Poaching and trade in wildlife species are among the most important concerns in the management of protected areas today but information on poaching, trade and trade routes is sketchy and current wildlife protection and law enforcement measures are inadequate and inefficient.

Existing Policy of Biodiversity Conservation:

a. A protected area network of National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries have been created.

b. The Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) has identified forest preservation plots of representative forest types for conservation of viable and representative areas of biodiversity.

c. A programme entitled ‘eco-development’ for in situ conservation of biological diversity involving local communities has been initiated.

d. To conserve the respective ecosystems, a Biosphere Reserve Programme is being implemented.

e. Programmes have also been launched for scientific management and wise use of fragile ecosystem,

f. Specific programmes for management and conservation of wetlands, mangroves and coral reef systems are also being implemented.

g. Six internationally significant wetlands of India have been declared as ‘Ramsar Sites’ under the Ramsar Convention.

h. Wildlife Protection Act is in the final stage of revision and provisions have been made for conservation reserves and community reserves to allow restrictive use to make it more people oriented. There will also be State Biodiversity Boards to control access to domestic consumers.

i. Under the World Heritage Convention, five natural sites in India, have been declared as World Heritage Sites.

j. Project Tiger and Project Elephant have been launched to protect the wildlife. Rhinos have been given special attention in selected sanctuaries and national parks.

k. The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) constituted the National Afforestation and Eco-development Board (NAEB) in August 1992, which has evolved specific schemes for promoting afforestation and management strategies and eco-development packages for promoting biomass production through a participatory planning process of Joint Forest Management (JFM) and micro-planning.

Certain Ex-Situ Conservation Strategies are as follows:

Central Government and State Government together run and manage Botanical Gardens, zoos, deer parks, safari parks, aquaria, etc. A Central Zoo Authority has been set up to secure better management of zoos. A scheme entitled Assistance to Botanic Gardens provides assistance to botanic gardens.

State Governments have already received the funds for the preparation of management action plans for Pongdam in Himachal Pradesh, Wullar lake in Kashmir, Loktak in Manipur, Rudrasagar in Tripura and Kolleru in Andhra Pradesh.

The National Bureau of Plant, Animal and Fish Genetic Resources has a number of programmes to collect and conserve the germplasm of plants and animals in seed gene banks, and field gene banks in vitro conservation.

The diverse food and medicinal plants are also being conserved successfully by the tribal people. The women particularly have an important role in the conservation of agro-biodiversity. The contribution of natural and agricultural biodiversity in terms of crops, live-stock, fisheries, etc., is very substantial in terms of commercial value.

Biodiversity Contribution to Indian Economy:

Biodiversity products have obtained a commercial value and have been increasingly exchanged in the markets having a monetary value, from which their share in the national economy can be judged.

The contribution of natural and agricultural biodiversity has a major contribution to the Indian GDP (gross domestic product).

The large economic implication of biodiversity in its wild and domesticated forms is the rice improvement programme. Rice accounts for 22 per cent of the total cropped area and 39 per cent of the total area under cereals, which reflects its importance in the country’s struggle to attain self-sufficiency in food.

When the rice crop was doomed in the 1970s, one single gene from the wild strain of rice, namely Oryza nivara from Uttar Pradesh, showed resistance to this virus and proved vital in the fight against the virus.

With respect to the commercial value of the plant species of medicinal value, the world trade is of several billion dollars and this is growing. The export market for medicinal plants has also increased. India’s foreign exchange reserves from horticultural products are from high yielding varieties. Increased production of oilseeds also helped in saving large amounts of foreign exchange spent on edible oil import.

International Efforts for Conserving Biodiversity:

It is apparent that action plans and strategies, when designed appropriately and implemented, can make important contributions to conservation.

A collaborate effort of the World Resources Institute, IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources), and UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme), working with other institutions, is leading to the preparation of a Global Strategy for the Conservation of Biodiversity, as a companion to the new version of the World Conservation Strategy now being prepared.

The aim of the Strategy is to provide a comprehensive framework to stimulate urgent, positive, innovative and coordinated action to stem the loss and degradation of the world’s biological resources and enhance the contribution of these resources to human well-being.

The strategy will be developed by and for national governments, NGOs (Non-government organisations), resource managers, scientists, international institutions, multilateral banks, and bilateral aid agencies.

The development of the Global Strategy will be centered around a series of regional workshops in Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America and North America. The Global strategy will include considerations of a variety of factors influencing biological resource conservation, such as international financing, international cooperation, research, education, training, public awareness, and ecological restoration.

The Earth Summit held in 1992 at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil resulted into a Convention on Biodiversity, which came into force on December, 29, 1993.

The Convention has three main objectives:

(i) Conservation of biological diversity

(ii) Sustainable use of biodiversity, and

(iii) Fair and equitable sharing of benefits that arise by the utilization of genetic resources.

The World Conservation Strategy (WTS) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) support projects worldwide to promote conservation of biological diversity.