Biodiversity Conservation - Different Methods And Strategies

May 20, 2023, 16:45 IST

Biodiversity is disappearing up to 1,000 times faster than its natural rate. Some scientists call the issue "Earth's sixth mass extinction," equivalent to the previous major extinction catastrophe 65 million years ago. These extinctions are irrevocable and significantly threaten human health and well-being. The cornerstone of preserving biodiversity is the designation and administration of protected areas. Although there are more protected areas worldwide, biodiversity is still declining.

To provide adequate habitats for species, conservation planning must use an integrated landscape approach. However, due to a lack of funding to manage these regions and implement pertinent legal frameworks, many protected zones are not operating as efficiently as initially intended.

In this article, we will understand biodiversity, its importance and the need and steps for its conservation.

Biodiversity

Biodiversity includes all the biologically active organisms like plants, animals, and microbes like bacteria that exist n the ecosystem and interact with the environment.

These species and creatures collaborate in complicated web-like ecosystems to keep things balanced and support life. The biodiversity of the natural world supports everything humans need to survive, such as food, clean water, medicines, and shelter.

• We stand the danger of disturbing the equilibrium of habitats and destroying biodiversity as people put more and more strain on the world by utilising and utilising more natural assets than ever before.
• The Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services 2019 landmark Global Assessment Report revealed that 1 million animal and plant species are currently in danger of extinction, the most significant number in recorded human history.

Need for Biodiversity Conservation

• About 66% of the ocean's and 75% of the land's environments have seen considerable change. Today, agricultural or livestock production takes up over a third of the planet's land area and nearly seventy-five per cent of its freshwater resources.
• The effects of other pressures on the environment and our well-being are getting worse by climate change. Ocean overfishing, forest destruction, water pollution, and climate change are all the results of human activity. Biodiversity is being impacted by these acts everywhere globally, even in the most remote places like our backyards.
• Even the most important centres of biodiversity in the world are not immune to pressure from humans. More than 1,400 distinct animal species and at least 15,000 different plant species may be found on Borneo, a sizable island in southeast Asia.
• The tallest tropical trees coexist alongside iconic fauna, including orangutans, pygmy elephants, clouded leopards, rhinos, and proboscis monkeys.
• Additionally, there are more than 50 kinds of pitcher plants that capture and eat insects and other tiny animals. Up to 3,000 varieties of orchids, flying, colour-changing frogs, and dart-firing snails can all be found in the wild.
• But Borneo's immense natural resource richness has drawn more people than those who like the outdoors. Large-scale, worldwide interests have been working for decades to take as much as possible from the island.
• To create room for lucrative palm oil plantations, forests are destroyed. Even Borneo's unique flora and animals are hunted, harvested, and trafficked on the black market.
• With nature battling to keep up, the environment changes swiftly due to all this strain. In just 40 years, Borneo's forests have lost 30% of their original cover. We have lost half of all highly endangered Bornean orangutans in the last two decades. Even the biggest known carnivorous pitcher plant, the Nepenthes rajah, is in danger. The biodiversity web is starting to fall apart due to our actions of removing its strands.

Biodiversity Conservation Steps

In addition to the physical environment, efforts to protect biodiversity must also consider the social and economic systems closely linked to biodiversity and ecosystem services. The representativeness of networks must be improved, and management efficacy must be increased for protected areas to contribute to a secure future for biodiversity successfully.

• Although the expansion of protected areas in many nations is assisting in maintaining alternatives for the future, the sustainable use and management of land outside of protected zones still take precedence.
• If conservation areas are to function more effectively, measures to enhance the environmental quality inside them must be integrated with landscape-scale strategies.
• Lack of sufficient technical and financial resources and competence may prevent new solutions from being scaled up, underscoring the importance of regional and subregional cooperation.
• Building capacity is essential to successfully prevent, mitigate, and inform the restoration of land degradation.
• Three levels should be considered when addressing national, provincial, and local capacity development needs.
• Building capacity is necessary to enable external sources (such as consultancies, academics, and think tanks to provide relevant departments and policies on biodiversity.

Also, check - Biodiversity And Conservation Concept Map

Biodiversity Conservation in India

India has approved several significant international agreements about managing and protecting wildlife. Some are the Convention on Biological Diversity, CITES, the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, and others. Under different Centrally Sponsored Schemes, State/Union Territory Governments receive financial and technical support for managing and conserving Protected Areas and other forests.

India is one of the seventeen megadiverse nations in the world. However, there are legitimate concerns about the extinction of several plant and animal species. To protect critically endangered and other fragile animal and plant species, the Indian government has implemented several laws, rules, and policy initiatives.

Government Initiatives to Protect Biodiversity

The Indian government has taken several measures to safeguard biodiversity. Necessary actions include:

• The Central Government passed the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972. The Act, among other things, calls for protecting areas for wildlife preservation and establishes penalties for shooting particular species of fauna listed in its schedules I through IV.
• The Wetland (Conservation and Management) Rules 2010 have been developed in the States to conserve wetlands.
• The National Plan for Aquatic Ecosystem Conservation's Centrally Sponsored Scheme helps States maintain wetlands, including Ramsar areas, across the nation.
• The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau has been established to stop the illegal trafficking of wildlife, including endangered species.
• The Wildlife Institute of India, the Bombay Natural History Society, and the Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History are three organisations that do conservation research.
• Diclofenac, a substance used in veterinary medicine that has contributed to a sharp drop in Gyps vulture populations throughout the Indian Subcontinent, has been outlawed in India by the government.
• The Pinjore (Haryana), Buxa (West Bengal), and Rani, Guwahati (Assam) conservation breeding schemes have been launched by the Bombay Natural History Society to save these vulture species.
• Protected Areas, including National Parks, Sanctuaries, Conservation Reserves, and Community Reserves, have been constructed nationally to help safeguard wildlife, especially vulnerable species and their environment. These regions cover important habitats.
• Through several centrally sponsored programmes, including "Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats," "Project Tiger," and "Project Elephant," the State Governments are provided financial and technical support to enhance wildlife protection and conservation.
• Following the provisions of the Wild Life (Protection) Act of 1972, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is authorised to detain and prosecute wildlife offenders.
• To increase patrols in and around the Protected Areas, the State Governments have requested to bolster field formations.

National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary

Sacred Groves

These areas are protected by local communities, and these locals protect their religious beliefs and traditional rituals. For example: in some forests, locals do not touch the dry leaves of fallen fruits as they consider them sacred. These locals believe any environmental disturbance will spread disease, natural calamities, crop failures, etc. Garo and Khasi communities prohibit human interference in sacred grove areas. Example: Peepal and Banyan trees are believed to be sacred hence people worship them and do not cut them.

Some Sacred groves in India are named as follows:

Biodiversity Conservation: FAQs

Q1. What are some of the Environmental and biological diversity policies?

Ans.

• National Forest Policy
• National Conservation Strategy and Environment and Development Policy Statement.
• National Biodiversity Policy and Macro-level Action Plan.
• The 2009 National Biodiversity Action Plan.
• Policy for National Agriculture.
• Countrywide Water Policy.
• (2006) National Environmental Policy.

Q2. Name some Important Indian Acts Concerning Biodiversity and the Environment.

Ans.

• Fishing Act of 1897.
• the Indian Forests Act of 1927.
• Act of 1957 Regulating Mining and Mineral Development.
• Preventing animal abuse began in 1960.
• Act of 1972 protecting wildlife.
• Act of 1980 on Forest Conservation.
• air pollution control and prevention act of 1981.
• the 1986 Environmental Protection Act.
• Biodiversity Act of 2002.
• Act of 2006 on acknowledging rights for Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest residents.

Q3. How and why is biodiversity important?

Ans. The natural environment we live in, as well as the variety of all the many species of living things — including the plants, animals, insects, and microbes — that call it home, is what is referred to as biodiversity. To sustain and nourish life on earth, each organism coexists in a delicate balance inside ecosystems where they all coexist.

Q4. Which three forms of biodiversity exist?

Ans. The variety of all living organisms and their interactions is known as biodiversity, or simply biological diversity. As species go extinct and new ones emerge, biodiversity shifts over time. The three types of diversity that scientists frequently discuss are species, genetic, and ecological diversity.