Part of Slide deck for Environmental Studies for Under graduate studies.

1. Bio Diversity - 1
Sesion-8:
Environmental Studies & Disaster
Management
Prof. Ajay Mohan Goel
ajay.goel@bmu.edu.in

2. What is Biodiversity
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3. What is Biodiversity?
• Biodiversity is the variability among living
organisms including diversity within species,
between species and of ecosystems.
• Comprised of several levels:
• starting with genes,
• then individual species,
• then communities of creatures, and
• Finally entire ecosystems, such as forests
or coral reefs, where life interplays with the
physical environment.
• Represents the knowledge learned by
evolving species over millions of years
• How to survive through the vastly varying
environmental conditions Earth has
experienced.
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4. Do animals and bugs really matter to me?
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5. Do animals and bugs really matter to me?
• Without plants there would be no oxygen
• Without bees to pollinate there would be no fruit or nuts
• Coral reefs and mangrove swamps provide invaluable protection from cyclones and tsunamis
for those living on coasts
• Trees can absorb air pollution in urban areas
• Tropical tortoises and spider monkeys
• The dense, hardwood trees rely on them.
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6. Benefits to Human Beings
• New medicines are harvested from nature
• Fungi that grows on the fur of sloths and can fight cancer
• Domesticated animals
• Services provided by ecosystems are estimated to be worth trillions of dollars – double the
world’s GDP.
• Biodiversity loss in Europe alone costs the continent about 3% of its GDP, or €450m (£400m),
a year.
• An aesthetic point of view,
• every one of the millions of species is unique,
• a natural work of art that cannot be recreated once lost.
• “Each higher organism is richer in information than a Caravaggio painting, a Bach fugue, or any
other great work,” Prof Edward OWilson (father of biodiversity)
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7. How diverse is biodiversity?
• About 1.7 million species of animals, plants and fungi have been recorded
• Likely to be 8-9 million and possibly up to 100 million
• creatures thought to be a single species could in some cases actually be dozens.
• Diversity at genetic Level
• Bacteria and viruses, and the number of distinct organisms may billions
• A spoonful of soil – which ultimately provides 90% of all food – contains 10,000 to 50,000
different types of bacteria.
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8. How bad is it?
• Tigers: plunged by 97% in the last century.
• In many places, bigger animals have already been wiped out by humans – think dodos or
woolly mammoths.
• The ~1 degree C rise in mean global temperature is causing serious and often unexpected
impacts on species, affecting their abundance, genetic composition, behaviour and survival.
• Species declines threaten the services that nature provides to people, which include
functioning as carbon sinks and increasing our resilience to climate change.
• Invasive alien species are among the main causes of biodiversity loss and species extinctions,
and the proliferation of invasive species is often exacerbated by climate change.
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9. What species extinctions mean for humanity?
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10. 2020 UN Biodiversity Conference
• Theme: “Ecological Civilization: Building
a Shared Future for All Life on Earth”
• Will frame the 15th meeting of the
Conference of the Parties to the CBD, to
be held in Kunming, China in 2020.
• The conference is expected to adopt a
new 30-year plan for the conservation
and sustainable use of nature
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11. Some Questions
1. How do we preserve biodiversity while also ensuring equitable and inclusive economic
development?
2. What happens if saving one species means that we cannot use limited resources to save
another?
3. Which species are the most critical to save?
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12. The Hindu Kush Himalayan region and 10 major river basins
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13. Population - KHK
• Mountain and hills of the Hindu Kush Himalaya is around 240 million people
• The total population in the ten major river basins is around 1.9 billion
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14. Biodiversity of HKH
• One of the highest diversity of flora and fauna
• Provide varied ecosystem services to one fourth of humanity.
• Four out of 36 global biodiversity hotspots
• A cradle for 35,000+ species of plants and 200+ species of animals.
• Numerous seeds of good practices
• conservation and restoration of degraded habitat along
• community development which need upscaling and out scaling.
• participatory and community-based approaches è large ecological, economic, and
social positive impacts.
• Substantial degraded forest areas are regenerating,
• decentralized practices reverse deforestation trends.
• Local communities have gained institutional space to decide for themselves
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15. Four global biodiversity hotspots and 10 river basins of the HKH
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16. Linkages between
ecosystems,
biodiversity, and
human wellbeing
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17. Distribution of total and endemic (in parentheses) species in the four
biodiversity hotspots in the HKH
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Source Conservation International (2016)

18. KeyThreats – Himalayan Ecosystem
• Climate change
• Himalayas have the largest concentration of glaciers outside the polar region, and hold vast stores of fresh water
• Habitat loss
• Conversion of forest to agriculture land and development
• exploitation of forests for timber, fodder and fuel wood
• wood-charcoal production
• intensive grazing
• Species loss
• Poaching
• Esp. tigers, elephants, rhinos
• humans and wildlife compete for land and other resources.
• Infrastructure (development)
• greater demand for energy. -hydroelectric power,
• numerous dams
• Tourism
• Mining
• Pollution
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19. Biodiversity of
Hindu Kush
Himalayas will
plummet by
2100
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20. Marine heat waves threaten global biodiversity and the provision of
ecosystem services
• The global ocean has warmed substantially over the past century.
• discrete periods of extreme regional ocean warming, called ‘marine heat waves’, have
increased in frequency.
• marine ecosystems in the southwest Pacific and the mid-west Atlantic are particularly at risk.
• linked to local extinctions, decreased rates of natural carbon sequestration, loss of critical
habitat and diminished socioeconomic value.
• Globally, observed increased coral bleaching, decreased sea grass density and decreased
kelp biomass correlates with increased annual number of heat wave days.
Source: Smale et al., 2019. Nature Climate Change 9: 306-312.
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21. Biodiversity of Himalayas
• Home to 30% of India’s fauna - 30,377
species/subspecies
• 12% of the country’s landmass
• Seven States — J&K, Ladakh, HP,
Uttarakhand, Sikkim,West Bengal,
Arunachal Pradesh
• 27.6% of the total vertebrate diversity of
India
• 280 species of mammals
• 940 species of birds
• 316 species of fishes
• 200 species of reptiles
• 80 species of amphibians.
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22. Biodiversity of Himalayas
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3.95 lakh sq. km 131 protected areas,
20 national parks
71 wildlife sanctuaries
5 tiger reserves
4 biosphere reserves
7 RamsarWetland sites

23. Biosphere Reserve
• Zones in Biosphere Reserve
• Biosphere reserves have three interrelated zones that aim to fulfil three complementary and mutually reinforcing functions:
• The core area(s) comprises a strictly protected ecosystem that contributes to the conservation of landscapes, ecosystems, species and genetic
variation.
• The buffer zone surrounds or adjoins the core areas, and is used for activities compatible with sound ecological practices that can reinforce
scientific research, monitoring, training and education.
• The transition area is the part of the reserve where the greatest activity is allowed, fostering economic and human development that is socio-
culturally and ecologically sustainable.
• Main Characteristics of Biosphere Reserves
• Achieving the three international functions: conservation, development and logistic support.
• Outpacing traditional confined conservation zones, through appropriate zoning schemes combining core protected areas with zones where
sustainable development is fostered by local dwellers and enterprises with often highly innovative and participative governance systems.
• Focusing on a multi-stakeholder approach with particular emphasis on the involvement of local communities in management;
• Fostering dialogue for conflict resolution of natural resource use.
• Integrating cultural and biological diversity, especially the role of traditional knowledge in ecosystem management.
• Demonstrating sound sustainable development practices and policies based on research and monitoring.
• Acting as sites of excellence for education and training.
• Participating in theWorld Network.
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24. List of Biosphere Reserves of India
• NB: Those Biosphere reserves in bold are part of World Network of Biosphere
Reserves too.
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25. Thank you
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Prof. Ajay Mohan Goel
ajay.goel@bmu.edu.in