Biodiversity and its

conservation
Ref. Text book for Environmental Studies
Erach Bharucha for UGC

UGC and Bharati Vidyapeeth Institute of

Environmental Education and Research, Pune

1
 Introduction

• Biological diversity deals with the degree of nature’s

variety in the biosphere. This variety can be observed at
three levels; the genetic variability within a species,
the variety of species within a community, and the
organisation of species in an area into distinctive
plant and animal communities constitutes ecosystem
diversity.

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 Genetic Diversity
• Each member of any animal or plant species differs widely from
other individuals in its genetic makeup because of the large
number of combinations possible in the genes that give every
individual specific characteristics. Thus, for example, each
human being is very different from all others. This genetic
variability is essential for a healthy breeding population of a
species. If the number of breeding individuals is reduced, the
dissimilarity of genetic makeup is reduced and in-breeding
occurs.
• Eventually this can lead to the extinction of the species. The
diversity in wild species forms the ‘gene pool’ from which our
crops and domestic animals have been developed over thousands
of years.
• Modern biotechnology manipulates genes for developing better
types of medicines and a variety of industrial products.

3
 Species Diversity
• The number of species of plants and animals that are present
in a region constitutes its species diversity. This diversity is
seen both in natural ecosystems and in agricultural
ecosystems.
• Some areas are more rich in species than others. Natural
undisturbed tropical forests have a much greater species
richness than plantations developed by the Forest
Department for timber production.
• A natural forest ecosystem provides a large number of non-
wood products that local people depend on such as fruit,
fuel wood, fodder, fiber, gum, resin and medicines. Timber
plantations do not provide the large variety of goods that are
essential for local consumption.

4
• In the long-term the economic sustainable returns from
non-wood forest products is said to be greater than the
returns from felling a forest for its timber. Thus the value
of a natural forest, with all its species richness is much
greater than a plantation.
• At present conservation scientists have been able to
identify and categorise about 1.8 million species on earth.
However, many new species are being identified,
especially in the flowering plants and insects. Areas that
are rich in species diversity are called ‘hotspots’ of
diversity. India is among the world’s 15 nations that are
exceptionally rich in species diversity.

5
 Ecosystem Diversity
• There are a large variety of different ecosystems on earth, which
have their own complement of distinctive inter linked species
based on the differences in the habitat. Ecosystem diversity can
be described for a specific geographical region, or a political
entity such as a country, a State or a taluka. Distinctive
ecosystems include landscapes such as forests, grasslands,
deserts, mountains, etc., as well as aquatic ecosystems such as
rivers, lakes, and the sea. Each region also has man-modified
areas such as farmland or grazing pastures.
• An ecosystem is referred to as ‘natural’ when it is relatively
undisturbed by human activities, or ‘modified’ when it is changed
to other types of uses, such as farmland or urban areas.
Ecosystems are most natural in wilderness areas. If natural
ecosystems are overused or misused their productivity eventually
decreases and they are then said to be degraded. India is
exceptionally rich in its ecosystem diversity.

6
 Bio-geographical Classification of
India
• Our country can be conveniently divided
into ten major regions, based on the
geography, climate and pattern of vegetation
seen and the communities of mammals,
birds, reptiles, amphibia, insects and other
invertebrates that live in them. Each of these
regions contains a variety of ecosystems
such as forests, grasslands, lakes, rivers,
wetlands, mountains and hills, which have
specific plant and animal species.
7
India’s Biogeographic Zones
1. The cold mountainous snow covered Trans Himalayan region of
Ladakh.
2. The Himalayan ranges and valleys of Kashmir, Himachal
Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Assam and other North Eastern States.
3. The Terai, the low land where the Himalayan rivers flow into
the plains.
4. The Gangetic and Bhramaputra plains.
5. The Thar Desert of Rajasthan.
6. The semi arid grassland region of the Deccan plateau Gujarat,
Maharashtra, Andra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
7. The Northeast States of India,
8. The Western Ghats in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala.
9. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
10. The long western and eastern coastal belt with sandy beaches,
forests and mangroves.

8
https://www.slideshare.net/rajenderarutla1/biogeographical-classification-of-india

9
 Value of Diversity
• Environmental services from species and ecosystems are essential at
global, regional and local levels. Production of oxygen, reducing carbon
dioxide, maintaining the water cycle, protecting soil are important
services. The world now acknowledges that the loss of biodiversity
contributes to global climatic changes. Forests are the main mechanism
for the conversion of carbon dioxide into carbon and oxygen. The loss of
forest cover, coupled with the increasing release of carbon dioxide and
other gases through industrialization contributes to the ‘greenhouse
effect’.
• Global warming is melting ice caps, resulting in a rise in the sea level
which will submerge the low lying areas in the world. It is causing major
atmospheric changes, leading to increased temperatures, serious droughts
in some areas and unexpected floods in other areas.
• Biological diversity is also essential for preserving ecological processes,
such as fixing and recycling of nutrients, soil formation, circulation and
cleansing of air and water, global life support (plants absorb CO2, give
out O2), maintaining the water balance within ecosystems, watershed
protection, maintaining stream and river flows throughout the year,
erosion control and local flood reduction.

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 Value of Diversity
• Food, clothing, housing, energy, medicines, are all resources that are
directly or indirectly linked to the biological variety present in the
biosphere.
• This is most obvious in the tribal communities who gather resources
from the forest, or fisher folk who catch fish in marine or freshwater
ecosystems. For others, such as agricultural communities, biodiversity is
used to grow their crops to suit the environment. Urban communities
generally use the greatest amount of goods and services, which are all
indirectly drawn from natural ecosystems.
• It has become obvious that the preservation of biological resources is
essential for the well-being and the long-term survival of mankind. This
diversity of living organisms which is present in the wilderness, as well
as in our crops and livestock, plays a major role in human
‘development’. The preservation of ‘biodiversity’ is therefore integral to
any strategy that aims at improving the quality of human life.
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 Consumptive use value
• The direct utilisation of timber, food, fuel wood, fodder by
local communities.
• The biodiversity held in the ecosystem provides forest
dwellers with all their daily needs, food, building material,
fodder, medicines and a variety of other products. They
know the qualities and different uses of wood from different
species of trees, and collect a large number of local fruits,
roots and plant material that they use as food, construction
material or medicines.
• Fisher folk are highly dependent on fish and know where
and how to catch fish and other edible aquatic animals and
plants.

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 Productive use value - Diversity
• The biotechnologist uses bio-rich areas to ‘prospect’ and
search for potential genetic properties in plants or animals
that can be used to develop better varieties of crops that are
used in farming and plantation programs or to develop better
livestock.
• To the pharmacist, biological diversity is the raw material
from which new drugs can be identified from plant or animal
products.
• To industrialists, biodiversity is a rich store-house from
which to develop new products. For the agricultural scientist
the biodiversity in the wild relatives of crop plants is the
basis for developing better crops.
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 Productive use value - Diversity
• Genetic diversity enables scientists and farmers to develop better
crops and domestic animals through careful breeding.
• Originally this was done by selecting or pollinating (transfer of
stigma, flower or pant for fertilization) crops artificially to get a
more productive or disease resistant strain. Today this is
increasingly being done by genetic engineering, selecting genes
from one plant and introducing them into another.
• New crop varieties (cultivars) are being developed using the
genetic material found in wild relatives of crop plants through
biotechnology.
• Even today, species of plants and animals are being constantly
discovered in the wild. Thus these wild species are the building
blocks for the betterment of human life and their loss is a great
economic loss to mankind.

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Productive use value - Diversity
• Preservation of biodiversity has now become
essential for industrial growth and economic
development.
• A variety of industries such as pharmaceuticals
are highly dependent on identifying compounds
of great economic value from the wide variety
of wild species of plants located in undisturbed
natural forests. This is called biological
prospecting.

15
 Social values
• While traditional societies which had a small population and
required less resources had preserved their biodiversity as a
life supporting resource, modern man has rapidly depleted it
even to the extent of leading to the irrecoverable loss due to
extinction of several species.
• Thus apart from the local use or sale of products of
biodiversity there is the social aspect in which more and
more resources are used by affluent societies.
• The biodiversity has to a great extent been preserved by
traditional societies that valued it as a resource and
appreciated that its depletion would be a great loss to their
society.

16
 Social values
• The consumptive and productive value of biodiversity is
closely linked to social concerns in traditional communities.
‘Ecosystem people’ value biodiversity as a part of their
livelihood as well as through cultural and religious sentiments.
• A great variety of crops have been cultivated in traditional
agricultural systems and this permitted a wide range of
produce to be grown and marketed throughout the year and
acted as an insurance against the failure of one crop. In recent
years farmers have begun to receive economic incentives to
grow cash crops for national or international markets, rather
than to supply local needs. This has resulted in local food
shortages, unemployment (cash crops are usually mechanised),
landlessness and increased vulnerability to drought and floods.

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 Ethical and moral values
• Ethical values related to biodiversity conservation are based
on the importance of protecting all forms of life. All forms of
life have the right to exist on earth. Man is only a small part
of the Earth’s great family of species.
• Don’t plants and animals have an equal right to live and exist
on our planet which is like an inhabited spaceship?
• We do not know if life as we know it exists elsewhere in the
universe.
• Do we have the right to destroy life forms or do we have a
duty to protect them?

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 Ethical and moral values
• Apart from the economic importance of conserving
biodiversity, there are several cultural, moral and ethical
values which are associated with the sanctity of all forms of
life.
• Indian civilization has over several generations preserved
nature through local traditions.
• This has been an important part of the ancient philosophy of
many of our cultures.
• We have in our country a large number of sacred groves or
‘deorais’ preserved by tribal people in several States. These
sacred groves around ancient sacred sites and temples act as
gene banks of wild plants.
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 Aesthetic value
• Knowledge and an appreciation of the presence of biodiversity
for its own sake is another reason to preserve it. Quite apart
from killing wildlife for food, it is important as a tourist
attraction.
• Biodiversity is a beautiful and wonderful aspect of nature. Sit
in a forest and listen to the birds. Watch a spider weave its
complex web. Observe a fish feeding. It is magnificent and
fascinating.
• Symbols from wild species such as the lion of Hinduism, the
elephant of Buddhism and deities such as Lord Ganesh, and
the vehicles of several deities that are animals, have been
venerated for thousands of years. Valmiki begins his epic story
with a couplet on the unfortunate killing of a crane by a hunter.
The ‘Tulsi’ has been placed at our doorsteps for centuries.
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 Option Value
• Keeping future possibilities open for their use is called
option value.
• It is impossible to predict which of our species or traditional
varieties of crops and domestic animals will be of great use
in the future.
• To continue to improve cultivars and domestic livestock, we
need to return to wild relatives of crop plants and animals.
• Thus the preservation of biodiversity must also include
traditionally used strains already in existence in crops and
domestic animals.

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 BIODIVERSITY AT GLOBAL, NATIONAL
AND LOCAL LEVELS
• There are at present 1.8 million species known and
documented by scientists in the world.
• However, scientists have estimated that the number of species
of plants and animals on earth could vary from 1.5 to 20
billion! Thus the majority of species are yet to be discovered
• Most of the world’s bio-rich nations are in the South, which
are the developing nations. In contrast, the majority of the
countries capable of exploiting biodiversity are Northern
nations, in the economically developed world. These nations
however have low levels of biodiversity.
• Thus the developed world has come to support the concept that
biodiversity must be considered to be a ‘global resource’.
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 BIODIVERSITY AT GLOBAL, NATIONAL
AND LOCAL LEVELS

• Countries with diversities higher than India are located in South

America such as Brazil, and South East Asian countries such as
Malaysia and Indonesia. The species found in these countries,
however, are different from our own. This makes it imperative to
preserve our own biodiversity as a major economic resource. While
few of the other ‘mega-diversity nations’ have developed the
technology to exploit their species for biotechnology and genetic
engineering, India is capable of doing so.
• Throughout the world, the value of biologically rich natural areas is
now being increasingly appreciated as being of unimaginable value.
• International agreements such as the World Heritage Convention
attempt to protect and support such areas.

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 BIODIVERSITY AT GLOBAL, NATIONAL
AND LOCAL LEVELS

• India is a signatory to the convention and has included several

protected Areas as World Heritage sites. These include Manas
on the border between Bhutan and India, Kaziranga in Assam,
Bharatpur in Rajastan, Nandadevi in the Himalayas, and the
Sunderbans in the Ganges delta in West Bengal.
• India has also signed the Convention in the Trade of
Endangered Species (CITES) which is intended to reduce
the utilization of endangered plants and animals by controlling
trade in their products and in the pet trade

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 INDIA AS A MEGA DIVERSITY NATION
• Geological events in the landmass of India have provided conditions for
high levels of biological diversity.
• A split in the single giant continent around 70 million years ago, led to the
formation of northern and southern continents, with India a part of
Gondwanaland - the southern landmass, together with Africa, Australia
and the Antarctic.
• Later tectonic movements shifted India northward across the equator to join
the Northern Eurasian continent. As the intervening shallow Tethis Sea
closed down, plants and animals that had evolved both in Europe and in the
Far East migrated into India before the Himalayas had formed.
• A final influx came from Africa with Ethiopian species, which, were
adapted to the Savannas and semi-arid regions.
• Thus India’s special geographical position between three distinctive centres
of biological evolution and radiation of species is responsible for our rich
and varied biodiversity
25
GEOLOGICAL FORMATION OF INDIA

26
 INDIA AS A MEGA DIVERSITY NATION

• Among the biologically rich nations, India stands among the top 10
or 15 countries for its great variety of plants and animals, many of
which are not found elsewhere.
• India has 350 different mammals (rated eight highest in the world),
• 1,200 species of birds (eighth in the world),
• 453 species of reptiles (fifth in the world) and
• 45,000 plant species, of which most are angiosperms, (fifteenth in
the world).
• These include especially high species diversity of ferns (1022
species) and orchids (1082 species).
• India has 50,000 known species of insects, including 13,000
butterflies and moths. It is estimated that the number of unknown
species could be several times higher.
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 INDIA AS A MEGA DIVERSITY NATION

• It is estimated that 18% of Indian plants are endemic to the

country and found nowhere else in the world.
• Among the plant species the flowering plants have a much
higher degree of endemism, a third of these are not found
elsewhere in the world.
• Among amphibians (cold-blooded vertebrates like frogs, toads,
newts, salamanders and caecilians) found in India, 62% are
unique to this country.
• Among lizards, of the 153 species recorded, 50% are endemic.
• High endemism has also been recorded for various groups of
insects, marine worms, centipedes, mayflies and fresh water
sponges.
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• Apart from the high biodiversity of Indian wild plants and animals there is also
a great diversity of cultivated crops and breeds of domestic livestock.
• This is a result of several thousand years during which civilizations have grown
and flourished in the Indian subcontinent. The traditional cultivars included
30,000 to 50,000 varieties of rice and a number of cereals, vegetables and fruit.
• The highest diversity of cultivars is concentrated in the high rainfall areas of
the Western Ghats, Eastern Ghats, Northern Himalayas and the North-Eastern
hills.
• Gene-banks have collected over 34,000 cereals and 22,000 pulses grown in
India. India has 27 indigenous breeds of cattle, 40 breeds of sheep, 22 breeds of
goats and 8 breeds of buffaloes
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 HOTSPOTS OF BIODIVERSITY

• The earth’s biodiversity is distributed in specific ecological

regions. There are over a thousand major eco-regions in
the world. Of these, 200 are said to be the richest, rarest
and most distinctive natural areas. These areas are referred
to as the Global 200.
• It has been estimated that 50,000 endemic plants which
comprise 20% of global plant life, probably occur in only
18 ‘hot spots’ in the world. Countries which have a
relatively large proportion of these hot spots of diversity
are referred to as ‘mega diversity nations’.
• The rate at which the extinction of species is occurring
throughout our country remains obscure (Not discovered).

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 HOTSPOTS OF BIODIVERSITY

• Our globally accepted national ‘hot spots’ are in the forests of the
North-East and the Western Ghats, which are included in the
world’s most biorich areas. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands
are extremely rich in species and many subspecies of different
animals and birds have evolved.
• Among the endemic species i.e. those species found only in India, a
large proportion are concentrated in these three areas. The Andaman
and Nicobar Islands alone have as many as 2200 species of
flowering plants and 120 species of ferns. Out of 135 genera of land
mammals in India, 85 (63%) are found in the Northeast. The
Northeast States have 1,500 endemic plant species.
• A major proportion of amphibian and reptile species, especially
snakes, are concentrated in the Western Ghats, which is also a
habitat for 1,500 endemic plant species

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 HOTSPOTS OF BIODIVERSITY

• Coral reefs in Indian

waters surround the
Andaman and Nicobar
Islands, Lakshadweep
Islands, the Gulf areas
of Gujarat and Tamil
Nadu. They are nearly
as rich in species as
tropical evergreen
forests!

32
 THREATS TO BIODIVERSITY: HABITAT
LOSS, POACHING OF WILDLIFE, MAN-WILDLIFE
CONFLICTS

• Man has begun to overuse or misuse most of these natural

ecosystems. Due to this ‘unsustainable’ resource-use, once
productive forests and grasslands have been turned into
deserts and wasteland have increased all over the world.
• Mangroves have been cleared for fuelwood and prawn
farming, which has led to a decrease in the habitat essential
for breeding of marine fish.
• Wetlands have been drained to increase agricultural land.
These changes have grave economic implications in the
longer term.
• Scientists have estimated that human activities are likely to
eliminate approximately 10 million species by the year
2050.

33
 THREATS TO BIODIVERSITY: HABITAT
LOSS, POACHING OF WILDLIFE, MAN-WILDLIFE
CONFLICTS

• Plants and insects as well as other forms of life not known to science
are continually being identified in the worlds’ ‘hotspots’ of diversity.
Unfortunately at the present rate of extinction about 25% of the
worlds’ species will undergo extinction fairly rapidly.
• This may occur at the rate of 10 to 20 thousand species per year, a
thousand to ten thousand times faster than the expected natural rate!
Human actions could well exterminate 25% of the world’s species
within the next twenty or thirty years.
• Much of this mega extinction spasm is related to human population
growth, industrialization and changes in land-use patterns.
• A major part of these extinctions will occur in ‘biorich’ areas such as
tropical forests, wetlands, and coral reefs. The loss of wild habitats
due to rapid human population growth and short term economic
development are major contributors to the rapid global destruction
of biodiversity

34
 THREATS TO BIODIVERSITY: HABITAT
LOSS, POACHING OF WILDLIFE, MAN-WILDLIFE
CONFLICTS

• Island flora and fauna having high endemism in small isolated areas
surrounded by sea have so far been most seriously affected by human
activity, which has already led to extinction of many island plants and
animals (the dodo is a famous example).

35
 THREATS TO BIODIVERSITY: HABITAT
LOSS, POACHING OF WILDLIFE, MAN-WILDLIFE
CONFLICTS

• Habitat loss also results from man’s introduction of species from one area
into another, disturbing the balance in existing communities.
• In the process, the purposely or accidentally introduced organisms
(Eupatorium, Lantana, Hyacinth, Congress grass or Parthenium) have led
to the extinction of many local species.
• Loss of species occurs due to the destruction of natural ecosystems, either
for conversion to agriculture or industry, or by over-extraction of their
resources, or through pollution of air, water and soil.
• In India, forests and grasslands are continuously being changed to
agricultural land. Encroachments have been legalized repeatedly. Similarly
natural wetland systems have been drained to establish croplands resulting
in loss of aquatic species. Grasslands that were once sustainably used by a
relatively smaller number of human beings and their cattle are either
changed to other forms of use or degraded by overgrazing

36
 THREATS TO BIODIVERSITY: HABITAT
LOSS, POACHING OF WILDLIFE, MAN-WILDLIFE
CONFLICTS

• Our natural forests are being deforested for timber and replanted using teak,
sal or other single species for their timber value. (but these forests are
killing local forests).
• When excessive firewood is collected from the forest by lopping the
branches of trees, the forest canopy is opened up and this alters local
biodiversity. Foraging cattle retard the regeneration of the forest as
seedlings are constantly trampled.
• Repeated fires started by local grazers to increase grass growth ultimately
reduces regeneration and lowers the diversity of plant species. Without
alternate sources of fodder this pressure cannot be decreased.

37
 THREATS TO BIODIVERSITY

• Another factor that disrupts forest biodiversity is the introduction of exotic

weeds which are not a part of the natural vegetation. Common examples in
India are lantana bushes, Eupatorium shrubs and ‘congress’ grass. These
have been imported into the country from abroad and have invaded several
large tracts of our natural forests. These weeds spread at the expense of the
diverse range of indigenous undergrowth species. The impact on the
diversity of insect, bird and other wildlife species, though not adequately
studied, is quite obvious.

https://www.monrovia.com/plant-catalog/plants/1752/american-red-bush-lantana/
https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/208785/i-Eupatorium-maculatum-i-(Atropurpureum-Group)-Purple-Bush/Details
https://www.quora.com/Why-is-parthenium-called-as-Congress-in-India 38
 THREATS TO BIODIVERSITY: HABITAT
LOSS, POACHING OF WILDLIFE, MAN-WILDLIFE
CONFLICTS

• Overharvesting of fish, especially by trawling is leading to serious

depletion of fish stocks. Turtles are being massacred off the coast of Orissa.
The rare whale shark, a highly endangered species, is being killed off the
coast of Gujarat.

http://www.easydestination.net/blog/item/gujarat-coast-ideal-for-whale-shark-tourism
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/andhra-pradesh/slaughter-of-whale-sharks-on-the-rise/article6139439.ece

39
 THREATS TO BIODIVERSITY

• Poaching: Specific threats to certain animals are related to large

economic benefits. Skin and bones from tigers, ivory from elephants,
horns from rhinos and the perfume from the must deer are extensively
used abroad.
• Bears are killed for their gall bladders.
• Corals and shells are also collected for export or sold on the beaches of
Chennai and Kanyakumari.
• A variety of wild plants with real or at times dubious medicinal value
are being over harvested. The commonly collected plants include
Rauvolfia, Nuxvomica, Datura, etc. Collection of garden plants
includes orchids, ferns and moss.

40
 ENDANGERED AND ENDEMIC SPECIES
OF INDIA

• Of the well-known species, there are several which are endangered by

human activity. The endangered species in the country are categorised as
Vulnerable, Rare, Indeterminate and Threatened.
• Other species are found only in India and are thus endemic or restricted to
our country. Some of these may have very localized distribution and are
considered highly endemic.
• Several plant and animal species in the country are now found in only one
or a few Protected Areas.
• Among the important endangered animals are charismatic species such as
the tiger, the elephant, the rhino, etc.
• The less well-known major mammals restricted to a single area include the
Indian wild ass, the Hangul or Kashmir stag, the Golden langur, the pygmy
hog and a host of others.

41
 ENDANGERED AND ENDEMIC SPECIES
OF INDIA

• The less well-known major mammals restricted to a single area include the
Indian wild ass, the Hangul or Kashmir stag, the Golden langur, the pygmy
hog and a host of others.

Kashmir Stag Golden Langur

https://www.examrace.com/Current-
https://www.techgape.com/2015/01/go
Affairs/NEWS-Kashmir-x2019-S-Red-
lden-langur-in-india.html
Stag-is-Critically-Endangered-IUNC.htm
World’s 25 Most Endangered Primates” during an international ..

Read more at:

Indian Wild Ass http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/53949184.cms?utm_so
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Asiatic_Wild_Ass.jpeg urce=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
42
 ENDANGERED AND ENDEMIC SPECIES
OF INDIA

• There are also endangered bird species such as the Siberian crane, the Great
Indian Bustard, the Florican and several birds of prey.
• During the recent past, vultures which were common a decade ago, have
suddenly disappeared and are now highly threatened. Equally threatened
are several species of reptiles and amphibia. Many invertebrates are also
threatened, including a large number of species that inhabit our coral reefs.

https://www.techgape.com/2015/02/great-indian- https://www.techgape.com/2015/02/lesser-
bustard-in-india.html florican-india.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberian_crane 43
 ENDANGERED AND ENDEMIC SPECIES
OF INDIA
• Many plant species are now increasingly threatened due to changes in their
habitats induced by human activity. Apart from major trees, shrubs and
climbers that are extremely habitat specific and thus endangered, there are
thousands of small herbs which are greatly threatened by habitat loss.
Several orchids are yet another group of plants that are under threat.
• Many plants are threatened due to overharvesting as ingredients in
medicinal products.
• To protect endangered species India has created the Wildlife Protection Act.
This includes lists of plants and animals categorised according to the threat
on their survival.
• We know so little about the species diversity of our country. There are
several groups of which we know very little. Most of us are only aware of
the plight of a few glamorous large mammals, but we need to appreciate the
threat to the less known species of plants and animals.
• We need to find ways to support the conservation of our incredible wildlife
for future generations.
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 CONSERVATION OF BIODIVERSITY: INSITU AND EX-SITU

• In-situ conservation: Conservation of a species is best done by protecting

its habitat along with all the other species that live in it in nature. This is
known as in-situ conservation, which is conserving a species in its own
environment by creating National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries

• Biodiversity at all its levels, genetic species and as intact ecosystems, can
be best preserved in-situ by setting aside an adequate representation of
wilderness as ‘Protected Areas’.
• These should consist of a network of National Parks and Wildlife
Sanctuaries with each distinctive ecosystem included in the network. Such
a network would preserve the total diversity of life of a region.
• In the past National Parks and Sanctuaries in India were notified to
preserve major wildlife species such as tigers, lions, elephants, and deer.
• The objective of these areas should be expanded to the preservation of
relatively intact natural ecosystems, where biological diversity – from
microscopic unicellular plants and animals, to the giant trees and major
mammals – can all be preserved.
45
 CONSERVATION OF BIODIVERSITY: INSITU AND EX-SITU

• Project Tiger: Project Tiger was launched by the Government of India

with the support of WWF (world wild life organization) -International in
1973 and was the first such initiative aimed at protecting this key species
and all its habitats.
• In 1973, the project was launched in the Corbett National Park of
Uttarakhand.
• Project Tiger was initiated in nine Tiger Reserves in different ecosystems of
the country covering an area of 16339 sq km. By 2001 the number of Tiger
Reserves increased to 27, covering an area of 37761 sq km.
• The tiger count climbed from 268 in 1972 in the nine Tiger Reserves, to
around 1500 in 1997 in the 23 Tiger Reserves.
• The Project tiger recognized the fact that tigers cannot be protected in
isolation, and that to protect the tiger, its habitat needed to be protected
• Tiger Reserves in India

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 Project Elephant

• Project Elephant was launched in 1992 to ensure the long-term survival of

a viable population of elephants in their natural habitats in north and north-
eastern India and south India. It is being implemented in 12 States. In spite
of this, our elephant herds are at threat as their habitat is shrinking and their
migration routes are disrupted by human activities.
• Objectives of the project were
• To protect elephants, their habitat & corridors
• To address issues of man-animal conflict
• Welfare of captive elephants

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 Crocodile Conservation
• Crocodiles have been threatened as their skin is used for making
leather articles. This led to the near extinction of crocodiles in the
wild in the 1960s in India.

• A Crocodile Breeding and Conservation Program was initiated in

1975 to protect the remaining population of crocodilians in their
natural habitat and by creating breeding centers.

• It is perhaps one of the most successful ex situ conservation

breeding projects in the country.

• Crocodiles have been extensively bred in over 30 captive breeding

centers, zoos and other sites where successful breeding takes place.
Thousands of crocodiles of all three species have been bred and
restocked in 20 natural water bodies.

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Wildlife Sanctuaries and National Parks
of India
• There are 589 Protected Areas in India of which 89 are National Parks and
500 are Wildlife Sanctuaries. They include a variety of ecosystems and
habitats. Some have been created in order to protect highly endangered
species of wild plants and animals found nowhere else in the world.
• The Great Himalayan National Park is the largest sanctuary in this
ecosystem and is one of the last homes of the beautiful snow leopard.
• Dachigam Sanctuary is the only place where the rare Hangul or Kashmir
stag is found.
• There are several Sanctuaries in the Terai region, Kaziranga National
Park is the most famous which has elephant, wild buffalo, gaur, wild boar,
swamp deer, and hog deer, in large numbers, as well as tiger and leopard.
Its bird life is extremely rich and includes ducks, geese, pelicans and storks.
• The Manas Sanctuary, in addition to the above Terai species, also
includes the rare golden langur and the very rare pygmy hog, the smallest
wild boar in the world. The florican is found only in a few undisturbed
grasslands in the Terai sanctuaries.

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 Wildlife Sanctuaries and National Parks
of India
• Kanha
• Bharatpur
• Desert National Park
• Ranthambor
• Great and the Little Rann of Kutch
• Gir Sanctuary
• Bhimashankar, Koyana, Chandoli
• Radhanagari
• Bandipur, Bhadra, Dandeli,
• Nagarhole
• Eraviculum,
• Perambiculum, Periyar, Silent Valley
• Sunderbans
• Koringa

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 The need for an Integrated Protected Area
System
• In our country, which has a rapidly growing human population, it is
not easily feasible to set aside more and more land to create
Protected Areas.
• The need to provide a greater amount of land for agricultural and
other needs has become an increasing cause of concern in land and
resource management. This forms a major impediment for creating
new Protected Areas.
• Having said this, there is an urgent need to add to our Protected
Areas to preserve our very rich biological diversity. Much of the
natural wilderness has already undergone extensive changes.
• The residual areas that have high levels of species richness,
endemism or endangered plants and animals must be notified as
National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries. Other areas can be made
into Community Conserved Areas which are managed by local
people.

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 The need for an Integrated Protected Area
System
• The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural
Resources states that it is essential to include at least 10% of all
ecosystems as Protected Areas if biodiversity is to be conserved in
the long-term.
• India has only 5% of land in its 589 Protected Areas in 2004.
However much of this includes plantations of sal or teak, which
were developed for timber in the past and are thus relatively poor in
diversity and have a low level of ‘naturalness’.
• There are only a few good grasslands left in our country that are
notified as Protected Areas. Some are overgrazed wastelands in
areas that were once flourishing grasslands. Most of these areas have
a low biological value and need careful management to allow them
to revert to a more ‘natural’ state, with their full complement of
plants and animals.

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 The need for an Integrated Protected
Area System
• There are several species of plants and animals that survive without
protection outside our current network of PAs. As it is not practical to
notify more PAs without affecting the lives of people, alternate strategies
such as Community Reserves or Community Conserved Areas need to be
created. These should be managed by local people to bring about the
conservation of biodiversity while using the area’s resources in an equitable
and sustainable way. A Community Conserved Area must have specific
conservation goals that can be achieved without compromising the area’s
utilitarian potential.
• A major drive for conservation of biological diversity can only come from a
mass environmental education program on the value of protecting our
dwindling biological resources.

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 Ex-situ conservation
• There are situations in which an endangered species is so close to
extinction that unless alternate methods are instituted, the species may be
rapidly driven to extinction. This strategy is known as ex-situ conservation,
i.e. outside its natural habitat in a carefully controlled situation such as a
botanical garden for plants or a zoological park for animals, where there is
expertise to multiply the species under artificially managed conditions.
These breeding programs for rare plants and animals are however more
expensive than managing a Protected Area.
• There is also another form of preserving a plant by preserving its germ
plasm in a gene bank so that it can be used if needed in future. This is even
more expensive.
• In India, successful ex situ conservation programs have been done for
species of crocodiles. This has been highly successful.
• Another recent success has been the breeding of the very rare pygmy hog in
Gauhati zoo. Delhi zoo has successfully bred the rare Manipur brow
antlered deer.
• However the most important step of a successful breeding program is the
reintroduction of a species into its original wild habitat. 54