BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION
The olive ridley turtles at Orissa
coast
www.thehindubusinessline.com
The irony of their fate
www.greenpeace.org
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BiosphereComplex system
Many spps.
Interlinking in form of
a web.
Keeping the whole
system stable.
• Conservation• development of ways
& strategies of
protecting the
diversity that exists in
the biosphere.
Why to conserve?
• Bio-geo chemical cycles. N, P , S, C etc
cycles.
• The gene pool of characters of
environmental and human interest.
• Food webs and chains providing natural
pest and disease control.
• And many other reasons.
Flora
•10.9% of world flora
•45364 plant spps.
Fauna
• 7.7% of the world’s
• About 94317 animal
species
Bio diversity in agriculture
Crop
No. of
wild
relatives
Millets
Fruits
51
104
Spices and
condiments
27
Vegetables and
pulses
55
Fibre crops
24
Oil seeds, tea,
coffee, Tobacco
and sugarcane
12
Medicinal plants
Source-www.teriin.org
3000
Conservation approaches
• In-situ
• Involves protection of
natural areas with
high biodiversity.
www.indiantiger.org
• Ex-situ
• here we conserve
biodiversity in an
artificial setting.
www.plantlife.org
Table: Threatened Animals of India by Status Category
Ex
EW
0
CR
0
EN
18
VU
54
143
LR/cd
LR/nt
10
99
Legend
Ex-extinct;
EW-Extinct in the Wild;
CR- Critically Endangered;
VU-Vulnerable;
LR/cd-Lower Risk conservation dependent;
LR/nT- Lower Risk near threatened; DD-Data Deficient
DD
31
Table: Threatened Plants of India by Status Category
EW
Ex
7
CR
2
44
EN
113
VU
LR/cd
87
Legend
Ex-extinct;
EW-Extinct in the Wild
CR- Critically Endangered
VU-Vulnerable
LR/cd-Lower Risk conservation dependent
LR/nT- Lower Risk near threatened
DD-Data Deficient
Source:
IUCN. 2000
LR/nt
1
DD
72
14
Insitu conservation
• National parks (88), and sanctuaries (490)
• Expansion of the protected area network
• Population surveys and assessments and database creation
• Mapping of forest types, protected areas, and natural forests
• Improved protection efforts and a landscape approach to
conservation
• Regular population-habitat viability and risk simulations
• Geographical information systems and remote sensing in planning
and monitoring
• Creation of new conservation
reserves
• Community reserves
• Joint Forest management
• Voluntary, field based organizations and NGOs (non-governmental
organizations)
Nilgiri
Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka
Nanda Devi
Uttaranchal
Nokrerk
Meghalaya
Manas
Assam
Sunderbans
West Bengal
Gulf of Mannar Tamil Nadu
Great Nicobar
Andaman and Nicobar
Similpal
Part of Mayurbhanj district (Orissa)
DibruSaikhowa
Part of Dibrugarh and Tinsukia district (Assam)
Dehang
Debang
Part of Siang and Debang velley (Arunachal Pradesh)
Pachmarhi
Parts of Betul, Hoshangabad and Chindwara districts
(Madhya Pradesh)
Kanchanjanga
Part of Kanchanjanga Hills (Sikkim)
The national parks and sanctuaries
Mapping the forests
The two satellites were
used for stratification of
trees in and outside
forest
Geographical information
systems and remote
sensing
in planning and
monitoring
The vegetation map of india
Community conservation
People protecting pelicans: an example of community
conservation in India
Kokkare Bellur is a village situated in Mandya District of
Karnataka, India. For generations, storks and pelicans have been
coming here and roosting on the trees in the village for six
months. They breed here, feed in the water bodies spread within
a distance of a few kilometers and then fly away to their summer
grounds. The villagers consider them a good omen and harbinger
of good rain and protected their habitat. Villagers have also
established an orphanage for injured birds. This area would
prove to be an excellent community managed reserve
Community reserves
magma.nationalgeographic.com
Community reserves
Pasgaonva Pond: A potential community reserve
In Pilibhit district of Uttar Pradesh lies a 1 ha village pond,
which is protected by the local people and is home to several
migratory waterfowl. The people have traditionally
protected the birds and there is a community-enforced ban on
hunting and poaching of birds from the pond. Although small in
area, this pond provides an example of traditional respect for
wildlife through community enforced bans on hunting and
poaching. Further, because of protection offered to the birds
here, this pond teems with birdlife in the winter. Huge
signboards listing birds seen in this area indicate that this pond
hosts a number of migratory waterfowl.
Joint forest management
Kuvarai village Andhra Pradesh
www.fao.org
Ex-situ conservation
• Captive breeding and species
reintroduction
• NBAGR
• NBPGR
• Biotechnology
• Seed banks
• Bioinformatics
Bioinformatics
• The terms bioinformatics and
computational biology are often used
interchangeably Bioinformatics and
computational biology involve the use of
techniques including applied mathematics,
informatics, statistics ,computer science
and biochemistry to solve biological
problems usually on the molecular level.
Eg. genome sequencing .
Bioinformatics
Bioinformatics
Seed banks
Dudwa rhino reintroduction
The Dudwa forests were home to the one horned rhino
a century and half ago. However due to rampant
poaching for its valuable horn and for game hunting, it
was wiped out from the area by the late 19th century.
Rhinos were successfully reintroduced to Dudwa on 1
April, 1984 following a systematic reintroduction effort
of captive bred stock. Suitable habitats were first
earmarked prior to their reintroduction. About 27 km2
of grasslands and open forests with perennial source of
water was earmarked as the rhino-reintroduction area
and two monitoring stations established. Currently there
are seven rhinos breeding successfully - 4 adult
females, 1 adult male, and 2 sub-adult males.
Dudhwa- Lakhimpur-Kheri
magma.nationalgeographic.com
Project Tiger-A success in species conservation
Tiger populations declined drastically from estimates of
40000 at the turn of the century (Gee, 1964) to 1800 by
the 1970s. This led in 1973 to the initiation of Project Tiger
with the objective of conserving and rescuing this species
from annihilation. Twenty-three tiger reserves were set up
along with the imposition of a total ban on hunting and
trading in tiger products at the national and international
levels and the implementation of habitat improvement and
anti-poaching measures. Between 1973 to 1989, the
species showed a marked recovery resulting in an increase
in numbers to more than 4000 by 1989.
Project tiger
magma.nationalgeographic.com
International efforts
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United nations environment programme
World conservation union
WWF
Convention on international trade in
endangered animals and plant species
Indian efforts
• The biodiversity bill 2002
• India became party to convention on
biodiversity (CBD)
• May 22nd international day on biodiversity
celebrated.
Thanks..
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Prashant Sharma
Vibhas Chandra
Abhishak Lahiri
Nishi Kalpana Pandey