Biodiversity Conservation

“Whatever we do to protect the number and variety of plants and animals is known as biodiversity conservation”

In-situ biodiversity conservation (Natural Home)

• Identification of an area with high biodiversity (area having a lot of variety of plants and animals)
• Isolation and protection of this area from human activities by establishing a natural park/sanctuary/biosphere reserve
• Very essential for big animals like elephants, rhinos, tigers as they require huge area.

National Parks

• Relatively large area consisting of one or more ecosystems, operates at National Level
• No human activity or settlement allowed i.e. human interference is totally prohibited
• Villagers cannot graze their animals
• Extremely strict rules about jungle produce collection for ex. Honey.

Wildlife Sanctuary

• Regulated human activities are allowed → Grazing of animals, Firewood collection, Tourism
• can be created for a particular specie which is not the case with national; operates at State Level
• A sanctuary can be upgraded to a national park but not vice versa

Biosphere Reserve

• Unique ecosystem of terrestrial & coastal areas internationally recognized by UNESCO under Man and Biosphere (MAB) programme
• People are allowed to live, own private land & carry own traditional activities but only in outer zone

Biosphere reserves are globally considered as:

• Sites of excellence where new & optimal practices to manage nature & human activities are tested & demonstrated;
• Tools to help countries implement the results of the World Summit on Sustainable Development in particular, of CBD & its Ecosystem Approach.
• Learning sites for the UN Decade on Education for Sustainable Development

After their designation, biosphere reserves remain under national sovereign jurisdiction, yet they share their experience and ideas nationally, regionally and internationally within the World Network of Biosphere Reserves

To carry out the complementary activities of biodiversity conservation and sustainable use of natural resources, biosphere reserves are traditionally organized into three interrelated zones:

Man and the Biosphere Programme

• Launched in 1971, UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB) is an Intergovernmental Scientific Programme that aims to establish a scientific basis for the improvement of relationships between people and their environments along with rational and sustainable use & conservation of the resources of the biosphere
• Predicts the consequences of today’s actions on tomorrow’s world and thereby increases people’s ability to efficiently manage natural resources for the well-being of both human populations and the environment
• Promotes the exchange and transfer of knowledge on environmental problems and solutions, and to foster environmental education for sustainable development

Biosphere reserves have three main aims viz.

• Conservation
• Economic development
• Research & education

Thus, biosphere reserves serve as living laboratories for testing & demonstrating integrated management of land, water and biodiversity.

Ex-Situ biodiversity conservation (Artificial home)

Seed Banks

• Store seeds at extremely low temperature & humidity
• Advantage → can save large variety of plant species in a very small space
• Problems   → Every seed has an expiry date; you cannot store it for an indefinite time. So every once in a while, you have to take out the seeds, germinate them and get new seeds and store them again
• Multinational companies such as Monsanto have excellent infrastructure for these activities, but they care for only storing the seeds of commercially viable species like Wheat, maize, rice, potato etc.
• They have no interest in protecting some unknown grass or jungle fruits which are on the verge of extinction, hence this duty falls under the government agencies

Central Zoo Authority of India

• Enforces minimum standards and norms for upkeep and health care of animals in Indian Zoos
• Restrains mushrooming of unplanned and ill-conceived Zoos that were cropping up as adjuncts to public parks, industrial complexes and waysides.

Zoos

• Bring some endangered species in zoo, breed them, and reintroduce their offspring in jungle ex. Pandas, Orangutans etc.

Problems

• Not all species can breed in captivity
• Life expectancy of Caged Ex-situ animal is less than its in-situ cousin
• Offspring born in captivity, have problems in adjusting & surviving in jungles
• Zoos require huge land, lot of funds, trained personnel.
• Zoos concentrate on protection and breeding of big and popular species such as Tiger, Panda, orangutans, etc. as it brings more public support and funds, But small and unknown species such as frogs and birds gets neglected.

Botanical Gardens

• An establishment where plants are collected, cultivated and displayed off to public with their botanical names for scientific study purposes.

Other Prominent Related Reserves

Legal Aspects