Wildlife conservation is the practice of protecting wild plant and animal species and their habitats.

Among the goals of wildlife conservation are to ensure that nature will be around for future generations
to enjoy and to recognize the importance of wildlife and wilderness lands to humans and other species
alike.
Wildlife conservation has become an increasingly important practice due to the negative effects of
human activity on wildlife. The science of extinction is called dirology. An endangered species is defined
as a population of a living being that is at the danger of becoming extinct because of several reasons.
The reasons can include that the species has a very low population or is threatened by the varying
environmental or prepositional parameters.

Wildlife traditionally refers to non-domesticated animal species, but has come to include all plants, fungi and other
organisms which grow or live wild in an area without being introduced by humans.[1]
Wildlife can be found in all ecosystems. Deserts, forests, rain forests, plains, grasslands, and other areas including the
most developed urban sites, all have distinct forms of wildlife. While the term in popular culture usually refers to
animals that are untouched by human factors,[2] most scientists agree that much wildlife is affected by human activities.
Humans have historically tended to separate civilization from wildlife in a number of ways including the legal, social,
and moral sense. Some animals, however, have adapted to suburban environments. This includes such animals as
domesticated cats, dogs, mice, and gerbils. Religions have often declared certain animals to be sacred, and in modern
times concern for the natural environment has provoked activists to protest the exploitation of wildlife for human benefit
or entertainment.

The wildlife in India comprises a mix of species of different types of organisms.[1] Apart from a handful of the major
farm animals such as cows, buffaloes, goats, poultry, and pigs, India has an amazingly wide variety of animals native to
the country. It is home to Bengal tigers, Indian lions, deer, pythons, wolves, foxes, bears, crocodiles, camels, wild dogs,
monkeys, snakes, antelope species, varieties of bison and the Asian elephant. The region's rich and diverse wildlife is
preserved in 120+ national parks, 18 Bio-reserves and 500+ wildlife sanctuaries across the country. India has some of
the most biodiverse regions of the world and hosts three of the worlds 34 biodiversity hotspots or treasure-houses
that is the Western Ghats, the Eastern Himalayas and Indo- Burma.[2] Since India is home to a number of rare and
threatened animal species, wildlife management in the country is essential to preserve these species.[3] India is one of the
seventeen megadiverse countries. According to one study, India along with other 16 mega diverse countries is home to
about 60-70% of the world's biodiversity.[4]
India, lying within the Indomalaya ecozone, is home to about 7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian,
and 6.0% of flowering plant species.[5] Many ecoregions, such as the shola forests, also exhibit extremely high rates of
endemism; overall, 33% of Indian plant species are endemic.[6][7] India's forest cover ranges from the tropical rainforest
of the Andaman Islands, Western Ghats, and Northeast India to the coniferous forest of the Himalaya. Between these
extremes lie the sal-dominated moist deciduous forest of eastern India; teak-dominated dry deciduous forest of central
and southern India; and the babul-dominated thorn forest of the central Deccan and western Gangetic plain.[8] Important
Indian trees include the medicinal neem, widely used in rural Indian herbal remedies. The pipal fig tree, shown on the
seals of Mohenjo-daro, shaded the Gautama Buddha as he sought enlightenment.

A female Indian elephant in Nagerhole National Park. India has the largest population of Indian elephants.
Many Indian species are descendants of taxa originating in Gondwana, to which India originally belonged. Peninsular
India's subsequent movement towards, and collision with, the Laurasian landmass set off a mass exchange of species.
However, volcanism and climatic change 20 million years ago caused the extinction of many endemic Indian forms.[9]
Soon thereafter, mammals entered India from Asia through two zoogeographical passes on either side of the emerging
Himalaya.[8] As a result, among Indian species, only 12.6% of mammals and 4.5% of birds are endemic, contrasting with
45.8% of reptiles and 55.8% of amphibians.[5] Notable endemics are the Nilgiri leaf monkey and the brown and carmine
Beddome's toad of the Western Ghats. India contains 172, or 2.9%, of IUCN-designated threatened species.[10] These
include the Asian elephant, the Asiatic lion, the Bengal tiger, the Indian rhinoceros, the mugger crocodile, and the Indian
white-rumped vulture, which suffered a near-extinction from ingesting the carrion of diclofenac-treated cattle.
In recent decades, human encroachment has posed a threat to India's wildlife; in response, the system of national parks
and protected areas, first established in 1935, was substantially expanded. In 1972, India enacted the Wildlife Protection
Act and Project Tiger to safeguard crucial habitat; further federal protections were promulgated in the 1980s. Along with
over 515 wildlife sanctuaries, India now hosts 18 biosphere reserves, 9 of which are part of the World Network of
Biosphere Reserves; 26 wetlands are registered under the Ramsar Convention.

Major threats to wildlife

Fewer natural wildlife habitat areas remain each year. Moreover, the habitat that remains has often been degraded to
bear little resemblance to the wild areas which existed in the past.Habitat lossdue to destruction, fragmentation or
degradation of habitatis the primary threat to the survival of wildlife in the United States. When an ecosystem has
been dramatically changed by human activitiessuch as agriculture, oil and gas exploration, commercial development
or water diversionit may no longer be able to provide the food, water, cover, and places to raise young. Every day
there are fewer places left that wildlife can call home.
There are three major kinds of habitat loss:

Habitat destruction: A bulldozer pushing down trees is the iconic image of habitat destruction. Other ways that
people are directly destroying habitat, include filling in wetlands, dredging rivers, mowing fields, and cutting
down trees.

Habitat fragmentation: Much of the remaining terrestrial wildlife habitat in the U.S. has been cut up into
fragments by roads and development. Aquatic species habitat has been fragmented by dams and water
diversions. These fragments of habitat may not be large or connected enough to support species that need a large
territory in which to find mates and food. The loss and fragmentation of habitat make it difficult for migratory
species to find places to rest and feed along their migration routes.

Habitat degradation: Pollution, invasive species and disruption of ecosystem processes (such as changing the
intensity of fires in an ecosystem) are some of the ways habitats can become so degraded that they no longer
support native wildlife.

o Climate change: Global warming is making hot days hotter, rainfall and flooding heavier, hurricanes
stronger and droughts more severe. This intensification of weather and climate extremes will be the most
visible impact of global warming in our everyday lives. It is also causing dangerous changes to the
landscape of our world, adding stress to wildlife species and their habitat. Since many types of plants and
animals have specific habitat requirements, climate change could cause disastrous loss of wildlife
species. A slight drop or rise in average rainfall will translate into large seasonal changes. Hibernating
mammals, reptiles, amphibians and insects are harmed and disturbed. Plants and wildlife are sensitive to
moisture change so, they will be harmed by any change in moisture level. Natural phenomena like floods,
earthquakes, volcanoes, lightning, forest fires.[3][4]
o Unregulated Hunting and poaching: Unregulated hunting and poaching causes a major threat to wildlife.
Along with this, mismanagement of forest department and forest guards triggers this problem.
o Pollution: Pollutants released into the environment are ingested by a wide variety of organisms.
Pesticides and toxic chemical being widely used, making the environment toxic to certain plants, insects,
and rodents.
o Perhaps the largest threat is the extreme growing indifference of the public to wildlife, conservation and
environmental issues in general.[5] Over-exploitation of resources, i.e., exploitation of wild populations
for food has resulted in population crashes (over-fishing and over-grazing for example).
o Over exploitation is the over use of wildlife and plant species by people for food, clothing, pets,
medicine, sport and many other purposes. People have always depended on wildlife and plants for food,
clothing, medicine, shelter and many other needs. But today we are taking more than the natural world
can supply. The danger is that if we take too many individuals of a species from their natural
environment, the species may no longer be able to survive. The loss of one species can affect many other
species in an ecosystem. The hunting, trapping, collecting and fishing of wildlife at unsustainable levels
is not something new. The passenger pigeon was hunted to extinction early in the last century, and overhunting nearly caused the extinction of the American bison and several species of whales.
Population: The increasing population of human beings is the most major threat to wildlife. More people on the globe
means more consumption of food,water and fuel . Therefore,more waste is generated. Every major threat to wildlife as
seen above, is directly related to increasing population of human beings. If the population is altered so is the amount of
risk to wildlife. The less is the population, less is the disturbance to wildlife.
Today, the [Endangered Species Act] protects some U.S. species that were in danger from over exploitation, and the
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES) works to prevent the global trade
of wildlife. But there are many species that are not protected from being illegally traded or over-harvested.
IMPORTANCE OF WILDLIFE CONSERVATION
The large scale poaching (killing) of wild animals residing in the forests by man is a serious threat to the survival of
many animal and bird species. This also disturbs the food chains in which these animals occur resulting in undesirable
consequences for the whole ecosystem. This point will become more clear from the following example. Snake is a wild
animal.
The skin of snakes is in great demand for making fancy leather goods, so the snake skin sells at a high price in the
market. Now, to make some easy money, some people kill the snakes indiscriminately in large numbers to obtain their
skin.

This large scale killing of snakes disrupts the food chains in which snakes occur and creates an imbalance in nature. For
example, snake is a friend of the farmer in the sense that it eats vermin's like rats and mice which are pests and damage
the crops.
Now, when the snakes are killed in large numbers to obtain their skin, the population of snakes is reduced greatly. Now,
due to the lesser number of 'predator' snakes, the population of pests like rats and mice in crop-fields increases. The
increased number of rats and mice in the fields damages the standing crops leading to loss in the production of foodgrains.
It is very important to conserve wildlife to maintain the ecological balance in nature and to preserve the gene pool. Some
of the measures (or steps) to be taken for the conservation of wildlife are given below:
1. Laws should be made to impose a total ban on poaching (killing) or capturing of any animal or bird belonging to an
endangered species. The poaching of an endangered species of animals and birds should be made a punishable offence.
Such laws should not remain on paper only, they should be enforced strictly.
2. Even if some type of wild animals and birds are in abundance today, their indiscriminate killing should not be allowed
by the forest authorities.
3. The natural habitats of wild animals and birds should be preserved by establishing National Parks and Sanctuaries
throughout the country.
4. The Government Department connected with the conservation of wildlife should conduct a periodic survey in all the
forests, National Parks and Sanctuaries to have knowledge of the population of all species of wild animals and birds, so
that these animals can be helped in the times of distress like floods and famines.
5. Special attention should be paid to the conservation of endangered species of wild animals and birds to prevent their
extinction altogether.
6. The unauthorised felling (cutting) of forest trees for timber trade and fuel-wood should be curbed (stopped)
immediately. This is because depletion of forests destroys the natural habitat of wild animals and birds, and exposes
them to the cruelty of man as well as nature.
7. In the case of Government authorised felling of forest trees, for every acre of forest cut down, an equal area of land
should be planted with saplings of trees to make up for the loss in the long run.

Biosphere reserves
The Indian government has established eighteen biosphere reserves of India which protect larger areas of natural habitat
and often include one or more national parks and/or preserves, along buffer zones that are open to some economic uses.
Protection is granted not only to the flora and fauna of the protected region, but also to the human communities who
inhabit these regions, and their ways of life.
The bio-reserves in India are:

Achanakmar-Amarkantak

Agasthyamalai

Dibru Saikhowa

Dihang Dibang

Great Nicobar

Gulf of Mannar

Kachchh

Kangchenjunga

Manas

Nanda Devi

The Nilgiris

Nokrek

Pachmarhi

Simlipal

Sundarbans

Cold Desert

Seshachalam hills

Panna

Nine of the eighteen biosphere reserves are a part of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves, based on the UNESCO
Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB) list.[24]

Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve

Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve

Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve

Nokrek National Park

Pachmarhi Biosphere Reserve

Simlipal National Park

Sundarbans Biosphere Reserve

Achanakmar-Amarkantak Biosphere Reserve

Nicobar Islands

National parks in India are IUCN category II protected areas. India's first national park was established in
1936 as Hailey National Park, now known as Jim Corbett National Park, Uttarakhand. By 1970, India only
had five national parks. In 1972, India enacted the Wildlife Protection Act and Project Tiger to safeguard
the habitats of conservation reliant species. Further federal legislation strengthening protections for
wildlife was introduced in the 1980s. As of April 2012, there were 112 national parks. All national park
lands then encompassed a total 39,919 km2 (15,413 sq mi) , comprising 1.21% of India's total surface
area.

Corbett National Park

Kanha National Park
Bandhavgarh National Park
Ranthambore National Park
Sunderbans National Park

India has 515 animal sanctuaries [1] referred to as Wildlife sanctuaries Category IV Protected Area) Among these, the 41
Tiger Reserves are governed by Project Tiger, and are of special significance in the conservation of the tiger. Some
wildlife sanctuaries are specifically named Bird Sanctuary, e.g. Keoladeo National Park before attaining National Park
status. Many National Parks were initially wildlife sanctuaries.The conservative measures taken by the Indian
Government for the conservation of Tigers was awarded by a 30% rise in the number of tigers in 2015.
Wildlife sanctuaries are of national importance to conservation, usually due to some flagship faunal species, are named
National Wildlife Sanctuary, like the tri-state National Chambal (Gharial) Wildlife Sanctuary for conserving the gharial.
Project Tiger is a Tiger conservation programme launched in 1973 by the Government of India under its then Prime
Minister Indira Gandhi. The project aims at ensuring a viable population of Bengal tigers in their natural habitats and
also to protect them from extinction, and preserving areas of biological importance as a natural heritage forever
represented as close as possible the diversity of ecosystems across the tiger's distribution in the country. The project's
task force visualized these tiger reserves as breeding nuclei, from which surplus animals would migrate to adjacent
forests. Funds and commitment were mastered to support the intensive program of habitat protection and rehabilitation
under the project.[1] The government has set up a Tiger Protection Force to combat poachers and funded relocation of
villagers to minimize human-tiger conflicts.
During the tiger census of 2006, a new methodology was used extrapolating site-specific densities of tigers, their copredators and prey derived from camera trap and sign surveys using GIS. Based on the result of these surveys, the total
tiger population has been estimated at 1,411 individuals ranging from 1,165 to 1,657 adult and sub-adult tigers of more
than 1.5 years of age.[2] Owing to the project, the number of tigers has improved to 2226 as per the latest census report
released on January 20, 2015.[3]
Project Tiger was identified to:

Limit factors that leads to reduction of tiger habitats and to mitigate them by suitable management. The damages
done to the habitat were to be rectified so as to facilitate the recovery of the ecosystem to the maximum possible
extent.

To ensure a viable population of tigers for economic, scientific, cultural,aesthetic and ecological values.

For site specific eco development to reduce the dependency of local people on tiger reserve resources.

Project Elephant was launched in 1992 by the Govt. Of India Ministry of Environment and Forests to provide financial
and technical support of wildlife management efforts by states for their free ranging populations of wild Asian
Elephantss. The project aims to ensure long-term survival of viable conservation reliant populations of elephants in their
natural habitats by protecting the elephants, their habitats and migration corridors. Other goals of Project Elephant are
supporting research of the ecology and management of elephants, creating conservation awareness among local people,
providing improved veterinary care for captive elephants. Project Elephant (PE), a centrally sponsored scheme, was
launched in February 1992 to provide financial and technical support to major elephant bearing States in the country for
protection of elephants, their habitats and corridors. It also seeks to address the issues of human-elephant conflict and
welfare of domesticated elephants. The Project is being implemented in 13 States / UTs, namely, Andhra Pradesh,
Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand,
Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal The initial modest Plan Outlay of Rs 23 crores in the 8th Plan was enhanced to Rs 60
crores in the 10th Plan.
The main goals of the Project are as follows:

Ecological restoration of existing natural habitats and migratory routes of elephants.

In 2007, there were a total of 110,000 km2 of elephant habitat of which 24580 km2 were in 64 protected areas. |
year=2007|work=Project Elephant|publisher=Ministry of environment and Forests|
There were 138 intra-state corridors, 28 inter-state corridors and 17 international corridors-23}

Development of scientific management planning for conservation of elephant habitats and viable elephant
populations in India;

Promotion of measures for mitigation of man elephant conflict in crucial habitats;

Moderating impact of human and domestic stock activities in crucial elephant habitats;

Strengthening of measures for protection of wild elephants from poachers and unnatural causes of death;

Research on Elephant management-related issues;

Increase public conservation education and awareness programs about elephants;

Eco-development of elephant habitats;

Provide improved veterinary care for elephants.

To have more tusked elephants.

CONCLUSION

Conserving wildlife controls over the ecosystem in a balanced way. Ecosystem is a chain of support of all living things
and non-living things for existence. Conserving wildlife economically supports the country. Wild conservation needs
reserves and national parks as well. They have to pay the certain amount of money to be entered and a big fund can be
raised ultimately. Tourists keep on traveling and paying for seeing the endangered animals. Tourists spend money in our
country and people become economically rich.
Some important animals are going to be vanished that hampers to keep the ecosystem balanced. Important animals cant
be seen in the zoo, too. Being over population the people started destroying the jungle for their habitat. The main ways
of preserving the wildlife are controlling the high population growth rate.
So conserving wildlife is not only helpful to environmental maintenance and balance of ecosystem but also
economically and socially assistance to human beings.