Biodiversity Hotspots

Biodiversity hotspots are regions with very high levels of

species richness and high degree of endemism (that is,
species confined to that region and not found anywhere
else). They are the richest and the most threatened
reservoirs of plant and animal life on Earth.
There are 34 hotspots in the world occupying Earths land
area of less than 2%. The number of species they harbor
is quite high and strict protection of these hotspots could
reduce the ongoing mass extinctions by almost 30%.
The 3 important hotspots in India are :1)Western Ghats and Sri Lanka
2)Indo Burma
3)Himalaya

1)Western Ghats and Sri

Lanka
They occur along the western coast
of India through Maharashtra,
Karnataka,Tamil Nadu and Kerala
extending over to Sri Lanka.
Southern Western Ghats are known
as Malabar. The Agasthyamalai hills,

the Silent Valley and the new Amambalam Reserve, are

the major centres of biodiversity.

2) Indo-Burma
It extends from Bhutan to Myanmar covering most of the
North-Eastern India.Much of Indo-Burma is characterized
by distinct seasonal weather patterns. During the
northern winter months, dry, cool winds blow from the
stable continental Asian high-pressure system, resulting
in a dry period under clear skies across much of the
south, center, and west of the hotspot (the dry, northeast
monsoon). As the continental system weakens in spring,
the wind direction reverses and air masses forming the
southwest monsoon pick up moisture from the seas to the
southwest and bring abundant rains as they rise over the
hills and mountains.
A wide diversity of ecosystems is represented in this
hotspot, including mixed wet evergreen, dry evergreen,
deciduous, and montane forests. There are also patches
of shrublands and woodlands on karst limestone outcrops
and, in some coastal areas, scattered heath forests. In
addition, a wide variety of distinctive, localized
vegetation formations occur in Indo-Burma, including
lowland floodplain swamps, mangroves, and seasonally
inundated grasslands

3)Himalaya
It is one of the richest hot spot of biodiversity. Eastern
Himalaya is situated between the Kali Gandaki River in
Central Nepal in the west and Myanmar in the east,
occupying southeast Tibet in China, Sikkim, North Bengal,
Bhutan and North-East India. The area has been declared
a biodiversity hotspot by Conservation International.The
climate of Eastern Himalaya is characterized by cool
summer and chilly winter. The hot season commences
about the middle of April, reaches its maximum in the
month of June and lasts till the end of August. The
average temperature generally recorded is 20 C. The
average rainfall in the area is about 500mm. Snowfall is a
usual phenomenon in the higher altitudes.

Protected Areas
These are areas of land and/or sea, especially dedicated
to the protection and maintenance of biological diversity,
and of natural and associated cultural resources. These
are managed through legal or other effective means.
Protected area network include :1)National Parks
2)Sanctuaries
3)Biosphere reserves
4)Sacred Grooves

1)National Parks
A national park is a park in use for conservation
purposes. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural,
or developed land that a sovereign state declares or
owns. Although individual nations designate their own
national parks differently, there is a common idea: the
conservation of 'wild nature' for posterity and as a
symbol of national pride.
The 3 famous National Parks are :
1)Yellowstone in USA
2) The Royal in Sydney,Australia
3) Corbett National park
in Nainital, India

2)Sanctuaries
An animal sanctuary is a facility where animals are
brought to live and be protected for the rest of their lives.
Unlike animal shelters, sanctuaries do not seek to place
animals with individuals or groups, instead maintaining
each animal until his or her natural death. In some cases,
an establishment may have characteristics of both a
sanctuary and a shelter; for instance, some animals may
be in residence temporarily until a good home is found
and others may be permanent residents. The mission of
sanctuaries is generally to be safe havens, where the
animals receive the best care that the sanctuaries can
provide. Animals are not bought, sold, or traded, nor are
they used for animal testing. The resident animals are
given the opportunity to behave as natural as possible in
a protective environment.

3)Biosphere reserves
Biosphere reserves are areas comprising terrestrial,
marine and coastal ecosystems. Each reserve promotes
solutions reconciling the conservation of biodiversity with
its sustainable use.
Biosphere reserves are Science for Sustainability support
sites special places for testing interdisciplinary
approaches to understanding and managing changes and
interactions between social and ecological systems,
including conflict prevention and management of
biodiversity.
Biosphere reserves are nominated by
national governments and remain under
the sovereign jurisdiction of the states
where they are located. Their status is
internationally
recognized.
The
3
important Indian biosphere reserves
are :
1)Nanda Devi
2)Manas
3)Sunderbans

4)Sacred Grooves
Sacred groves of India are forest fragments of varying
sizes, which are communally protected, and which usually

have a significant religious connotation for the protecting

community. Hunting and logging are usually strictly
prohibited within these patches. Other forms of forest
usage like honey collection and deadwood collection are
sometimes allowed on a sustainable basis. Sacred groves
did not enjoy protection via federal legislation in India.
Some NGOs work with local villagers to protect such
groves. Traditionally, and in some cases even today,
members of the community take turns to protect the
grove. However, the introduction of the protected area
category community reserves under the Wild Life
(Protection) Amendment Act, 2002 has introduced
legislation for providing government protection to
community held lands, which could include sacred
groves.

EX-SITU
CONSERVATION
EX-SITU CONSERVATION INCLUDES :1)
Sacred Plants, Home Gardens
2)
Seed Banks, Field gene banks
3)
Biological gardens, Zoos, Safari parks,
Aquaria

1)Sacred Plants, Home

Gardens
In the world of plants, some are used for sacred and ceremonial purposes, to explore the
spirit world. The use of these plants derives from native cultures, whose members have
traditionally sought access to the normal through the ingestion of the plants and their
preparations. The use of these plants differs from contemporary religious practices in a
key way. For while religious prayer, ritual and communion are engaged to propitiate god
or gods, the use of sacred plants is intended to give the participant direct access to the
divine experience.

Examples: Tulsi, Rudraksha, Ficus Religios

Home gardens is a mixed cropping system that encompasses vegetables, fruits,

plantation crops, spices, herbs, ornamental and medicinal plants as well as livestock that
can serve as a supplementary source of food and income.

2)Seed Banks, Field

gene banks
A seed bank stores seeds to preserve genetic diversity; hence it is a type of gene bank.
There are many reasons to store seeds. One reason is to have on-hand the genes that plant
breeders need to increase yield, disease resistance, drought tolerance, nutritional quality,
etc. of plants used in agriculture (i.e., crops or domesticated species). Another reason is to
forestall loss of genetic diversity in rare or imperiled plant species in an effort to
conserve biodiversity ex situ.

Gene banks are a type of biorepository which preserve genetic material. For plants, this
could be by freezing cuttings from the plant, or stocking the seeds (e.g. in a seedbank). For
animals, this is the freezing of sperm and eggs in zoological freezers until further need. With
corals, fragments are taken which are stored in water tanks under controlled conditions.

3)Biological gardens,
Zoos, Safari parks
A botanical garden or botanic garden is a garden dedicated to the collection, cultivation
and display of a wide range of plants labelled with their botanical names. It may contain
specialist plant collections such as cacti and other succulent plants, herb gardens, plants
from particular parts of the world, and so on; there may be greenhouses, shadehouses,
again with special collections such as tropical plants, alpine plants, or other exotic plants.
A zoo is a facility in which animals are confined within enclosures, displayed to the public,
and in which they may also be bred. Zoological Parks are related to wild life which denotes
the large & popular animals (tiger, elephant, deer, crocodiles and whales). Wild life is related
to animals and their natural habitats. It helps us to maintain ecological balance.

A safari park, is a zoo-like commercial drive-in tourist attraction where visitors can drive in
their own vehicles or ride in vehicles provided by the facility to observe freely roaming
animals. The main attractions are frequently large animals from Sub-Saharan Africa such
as giraffes, lions, rhinoceros, elephants, zebras, ostriches, and antelope.

CONVENTIONS ON
BIODIVERSITY
Biodiversity knows no political boundaries and
its conservation is therefore, a collective
responsibility of all nations.

As a result 2 historic summits were called

upon :1)
2)

The Earth Summit

World Summit

1)The Earth Summit

Conference

United Nations Conference on

Environment and Development
(UNCED), Rio de Janeiro, 3-14
June 1992

Informal
name

The Earth Summit

Host
Brazil
Government
Number of 172, 108 at level of heads of
Government State or Government
s
participatin
g
Conference
SecretaryGeneral

Maurice F. Strong, Canada

Organizers

UNCED secretariat

Principal
themes

Environment and sustainable

development

NGO
presence

Some 2,400 representatives of

non-governmental
organizations (NGOs); 17,000
people attended the parallel
NGO Forum

Resulting
document

Agenda 21, the Rio Declaration

on Environment and
Development, the Statement
of Forest Principles, the United
Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change and the
United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity

2)World Summit
The 2005 World Summit, held from 14 to 16 September at United Nations Headquarters in New York,
brought together more than 170 Heads of State and Government. It was a once-in-a-generation
opportunity to take bold decisions in the areas of development, security, human rights and reform of the
United Nations.

The agenda was based on an achievable set of proposals outlined in March 2005 by Secretary-General
Kofi Annan in his report In Larger Freedom.
An historic outcome document took a unified stance by the international community on a broad array of
crucial issues, including concrete steps towards combating poverty and promoting development to
unqualified condemnation of all forms of terrorism along with the acceptance of collective responsibility to
protect civilians against genocide and other crimes against humanity.

KNOWLEDGE CLOUD
Some important protected animals and their
national parks :
Animals
LION(Panthera leo)
Park, Gujarat

Gir National

TIGER(Panthera tigris)
Corbett National
Park,Uttarakhand
Hazaribag
Sanctuary, Jharkhand
SNOW LEOPARD(Panthera uncia)
Gangtok National
Park, Sikkim

RHINO(Rhinoceros unicornis)
Kaziranga National
Park, Assam
ELEPHANTS(Elephas maximus)
Periyar Sanctuary,
Kerala