Conservation of Biodiversity

CONSERVATION OF BIODIVERSITY

^v   The convention on Biological Diversity held in June, 1992 stressed the need of the conservation of Biodiversity for sustainable development and perpetuation of human beings on earth.

^v   Conservation is defined as “ the management of human use of the biosphere so that it may yield the greatest sustainable benefit to the present generation while maintaining its potential to meet the needs and aspirations of the future generations”.

^v   The two basic approaches to wildlife conservation in protected habitats are:

1) In- situ conservation 2) Ex- situ conservation.

1 In- situ conservation

^v   It simply means conservation of species in its natural ecosystem or even in man made ecosystems.

^v   This strategy emphasizes protection of total ecosystem through a network of “protected area”.

^v   Protected Areas: an area of land and/or sea specially dedicated to the protection and maintenance of biological diversity and managed through legal effective means.

^v   There are different categories of protected areas which are managed with different objectives. These include; Biosphere reserves, National parks, Wild Life Sanctuaries etc.

^v   At present we have 11 major biosphere reserves, 80 National parks, 420 wildlife sanctuaries in our country covering 4% of the geographic area.

^v   The JIM CORBETT National Park was 1st national park established in India.

What is Difference among Biosphere reserves, National parks, Wild Life Sanctuaries ? Examples of Biosphere reserves of India:

1.     Nilgiri- 5,520 sq.km

2.     Nanda Devi- 5,860.69 sq. km

3.     Manas – 2837 sq. km

4.     Gulf of Mannar – 10,500 sq. km

5.     Great Nicobar – 885 sq. km

6.     Panchmarhi – 4,926.28 Sq Km Examples of some National park in India

1. Kaziranga- Assam, Gir National Park- Gujarat, Periyar – Kerala, Sariska – Rajasthan Examples of some Wild Life Sanctuaries of India:

1.     Ghana Bird sanctuaries

2.     Hazaribagh sanctuaries

3.     Abohar wild life sanctuaries

4.     Jaldapara wild life sanctuaries

5.     Mudamalai wild life sanctuaries

2 Ex- situ conservation

^v   It is defined as “the conservation of component of biological diversity (Sample of genetic diversity, particularly of endangered species) outside their natural habitats”.

^v   It involves maintenance and breeding of endangered plant and animal species under partially or wholly controlled conditions. E.g. Zoos, Botanical Gardens, Aquaria, Nurseries, DNA bank, Seed bank, Gene bank etc.

^v   There are more than 1500 Botanical gardens in the world containing more than 80,000 species.

^v   There are more than 800 zoos around the world with about 3,000 species of mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians.