Conservation of Biodiversity

The conservation of biodiversity basically involves two approaches:

(1)    In-situ Conservation: The conservation of species of plants and animals in their natural habitats i.e. wild area is called in-situ conservation. In this method, plants and animals species are protected in specially demarcated natural habitats such as biosphere reserve or nature reserve such as national park, wildlife sanctuary, tiger reserves, etc. Species of plants, animals along with their habitats are well protected and there are strict regulations about human activities in these protected areas. India has 102 National Parks, 516 Wildlife Sanctuaries, 55 Conservation Reserves, 4 Community Reserves and a total 677 Protected Areas. These occupy 4.93% of total geographical areas of India. Total forest area at present is 23.38% of its total geographical area. The four biosphere reserves of Nilgiri, Gulf of Mannar, Sundarbans and Nanda Devi have been included in the international Network of Biosphere under UNESCO’s Man and Biosphere Programme. The Western Ghats have been in World Natural Heritage Site list since 2012.

(2)    Ex-situ Conservation: It means conservation of species of plants and animals outside their natural habitat or native place. The plants and animals which are facing danger of extinction are removed from their natural habitat and are brought up and maintained in other suitable areas managed by man. Such areas include botanical gardens, Zoos, hatcheries, genetic resource centres, etc. The crocodile bank in Chennai is an example of it. In order to restore genetic diversity of plants and animals, the seeds and germplasm of rare and endangered species are stored in seed banks, seed vaults or germplasm banks to conserve genes of such species. Such storage centres are called gene banks. India recently opened a seed vault in Leh-Ladakh area.