Protected Areas Overlay With Biodiversity In India

Made by -SHIVANIRoll No.-374

BIODIVERSITY Biodiversity is the variety of different types of life found

on Earth and the variations within species. It is a measure of the variety of organisms present in

different ecosystems. This can refer to genetic variation, ecosystem variation,

or species variation (number of species)within an area, biome, or planet.

Biodiversity is not distributed evenly on Earth. It is richest in the tropics. Biodiversity generally tends to cluster in hotspots , and has been increasing through time but will be likely to slow in the future.

Biodiversity in india India is a mega diverse nation, housing around 10% of world's species. India also has

a rich cultural heritage going back thousands of years. Much of Indian biodiversity is intricately related to the socio-cultural practices of the land.

India has a rich and varied heritage of biodiversity, encompassing a wide spectrum of habitats from tropical rainforests to alpine vegetation and from temperate forests to coastal wetlands.

With a mere 2.4% of the world's area, India accounts for 7.31% of the global faunal total with a faunal species count of 89,451 species.

India is one of the 12 centres of origin of cultivated plants. India is considered to be the Centre of origin of 30,000-50,000 varieties of rice, pigeon-pea, mango, turmeric, ginger, sugarcane, gooseberries etc. and ranks seventh in terms of contribution to world agriculture.

India has ten biogeographic regions including the Trans-Himalayan, the Himalayan, the Indian desert, the semi-arid zone(s), the Western Ghats, the Deccan Peninsula, the Gangetic Plain, North-East India, and the islands and coasts.

Number of Species in India GROUP No. of

Species(India)No. of Species(World) (%)

Mammals 350 4,629 7.6Birds 1224 9,702 12.6Reptiles 408 6,550 6.2Amphibians

197 4,522 4.4

Fishes 2546 21,730 11.7Flowering Plants

15,000 250,000 6.0

Protected areas network in india India covers only 2.4% of the world’s land area, 16.7% of the

world’s human population and 18% livestock, it contributes about 8% of the known global biodiversity.

A National Board for Wildlife (NBWL), chaired by the Prime Minister of India provides for policy framework for wildlife conservation in the country. The National Wildlife Action Plan (2002-2016) was adopted in 2002, emphasizing the people’s participation and their support for wildlife conservation.

A network of 668 Protected Areas (PAs) has been established, extending over 1,61,221.57 sq. kms. (4.90% of total geographic area), comprising 102 National Parks, 515 Wildlife Sanctuaries, 47 Conservation Reserves and 4 Community Reserves.

Protected Areas of India from 2000 to 2014

SUGGESTIONS

We need young and upcoming talent to take up biodiversity and ecosystems informatics as their profession, we also require veterans to impart the skill to these budding entrepreneurs.

It is beyond essential that various agencies and individuals bring together a suite of complementary and synergistic assets, and from they will also derive benefits that would not likely be possible if they pursued more independent approaches in this area.

A focused activity is needed in order to nurture a biodiversity and ecosystem informatics research community with links to biodiversity and ecosystem researchers , computers and information scientists , geoscientists , natural resources managers , and various other stakeholders.

CONCLUSION

It is of utmost importance for us to develop quick and effective ways to protect species from extinction. If we fail to conserve the species facing extinction now, we are paving the way for easier and faster depletions in the future. We will live in a domesticated world lacking wild biodiversity, and in the words of poet and ecologist Gary Snyder, “if the human race…were to survive at the expense of many plant and animal species, it would be no victory.”