Conservation on Biological Diversity

About –

• Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is a legally blinding multilateral environment agreement.
• Three objectives of CBD
• Conservation of biodiversity
• Sustainable use of biodiversity
• Fair and equitable share of the benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources.

Formation –

• CBD was an outcome of Earth summit in Rio de Janeiro on 5^th June 1992.
• CBD came into force on 29 December 1993.
• Secretariat: CBD secretariat, Montreal, Canada.
• under the aegis of United Environment Programme(UNEP)

Organization –

• At present CBD has 194 parties and 168 signatories including India.
• Governing body: Conference of the parties (COP)
• first meetings have took place till 2012
• 2012 COP conference was held in India
• Subsidiary bodies –
• Subsidiary body for scientific Technical and Technological Advice(SBSTTA)

CBD AT national level –

• CBD provides sovereign rights over their biological resources.
• CBD recognizes the close and traditional dependence of indigenous and local communities on biological resources.
• CBD ensures that these communities share the benefits arising from the use of their traditional knowledge and conservation practices.

Facts –

• CBD also aims to prevent the spread of ecologically harmful invasive species.
• United States has signed but didn’t ratify the convention
• Citing the demand technology transfer to developing countries.

CBD Protocols

Cartagena Protocol –

“Cartagena Protocol on bio safety to the Convention on Biological Diversity”

• Background –
• Protocol on bio safety is to establish rules and procedures for safe transfer, handling and use off LMOs, with specific focus on trans boundary movements.
• Cartagena is a city in Colombia where the Bio safety protocol was originally scheduled to adopt in February 1999.
• But the protocol was adopted later on 29 January 2000 in Montreal, Canada.
• Concepts –
• Living Modified Organisms (LMOs) –

Any living organism that modified combinations of genetic obtained through modern biotechnology.

LMOs are living genetically modified organisms.

• Components –

1. Advance Informed Agreement procedure

• Countries exporting the LMOs should inform the importing countries the LMOs before exporting.
• Ensures that importing countries have the opportunities and capacity to assess the risks associated with LMOs before importing them.

2. Bio safety clearing House(BCH) –

• To facilities the exchange of scientific, technical, environmental and legal information on LMOs
• To clear or ban the import of LMOs

Facts-

• LMOs that are pharmaceuticals for humans are excluded from protocol, if they are covered by other international agreements.

Nagoya Protocol –

• It is supplementary agreement to the Convention on Biological Diversity.
• The Nagoya Protocol will create greater legal certainly and transparency for both provides and users of genetic resources.
• Background –
• Genetic resources from plants, animals and microorganisms are increasingly valuable in the development enzymes, enhanced genes, or small molecules.
• Finding a practical way to share these benefits has been of particular concern to biodiversity-rich developing countries.
• Adoption –
• 29 October 2010 in Nagoya, Japan
• Entered into force on 12 October 2014
• Objective: Fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources.
• Functions –
• Establishing more predictable conditions for access to genetic resources.
• Helping to ensure benefit-sharing when genetic resources leave the country providing the genetic resources.
• Benefits –
• The protocol establishes a legally-blinding frame-work that helps researches access genetic re-sources for biotechnology research, development and other activities, in return for a fair of any benefits from their use.
• Indigenous and local communities may receive benefits through a legal framework that respects the value of traditional knowledge association with genetic resources.
• The Nagoya Protocol applies to –
• genetic resources that are covered by the CBD
• benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources
• traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources that are covered by the CBD
• benefits arising from the utilization of traditional knowledge
• The Protocol does not apply to –
• Human genetic material, or to resources that were acquired before the Protocol comes into effect.
• genetic resources covered by specialised access and benefit-sharing agreements such as
• Aichi Biodiversity Targets – Strategic goals
• Strategic Goal A: Address the underlying causes of biodiversity loss by mainstreaming biodiversity across government and society.
• Strategic Goal B: Reduce the direct pressures on biodiversity and promote sustainable use.
• Strategic Goal C: To improve the status of biodiversity by safeguarding ecosystems, species and genetic diversity.
• Strategic Goal D: Enhance the benefits to all from biodiversity and ecosystem services.
• Strategic Goal E: Enhance implementation through participatory planning, knowledge management and capacity building.
• Target 6: By 2022 al fish and invertebrate stocks and aquatic plants are managed and harvested sustainably.
• Target 7: By 2022 areas under agriculture, aquaculture and forestry are managed sustainably, ensuring conservation of biodiversity.
• Target 9: By 2022, invasive alien species and pathways are identified and prioritised, priority species are controlled or eradicated.
• Target 10: By 2012, the multiple anthropogenic pressures on coral reefs and other vulnerable ecosystems impacted by climate change.
• Target 11: By 2020, at least 17% of terrestrial and inland water and 10% of coastal and marine areas are conserved.
• Target 12: By 2020 the extinction of known threatened species has been prevented.
• Target 13: By 2020, the genetic diversity of cultivated plants and farmed domestic animals and of relatives is maintained.
• Target 15: By 2020, ecosystem resilience and the contribution of biodiversity to carbon stock have been enhanced, through conservation.
• Target 16: By 2015, the Nagoya Protocol is in force and operational, consistent with national legislation.
• Target 18: By 2020, the traditional knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous and local communities and their customary use.

Biosphere Reserves

IUCN Category V Protected areas

About –

• Biosphere Reserves is an area set aside for the conservation of the resources of the biosphere and for the improvement of the relationship between man and the environment.
• Biosphere reserves is proposed by its residents, ratified by a national committee, and designated by UNESCO’s Man and Biosphere program.
• Biosphere reserves protect larger areas of natural habitat, and often include one or more national parks/or preserves, along buffers zones that are open to limited economic activities.
• Protection is granted not only to the flora and fauna of the protected region, but also the human communities who inhabit these regions, and their ways of life.

Functions –

• To contributes to the conservation of landscapes, ecosystems, species and genetic variation.
• To foster economic and human development which is socio-culturally and ecologically sustainable
• To provide support for research, monitoring, education and information exchange related to local and global issues of conservation and development.

Zones of Biosphere Reserve –

• Core Zones –
• Strictly protected ecosystem
• Managed for minimum human interference, to serve as a baseline for the biological region
• Research, education and training activities are carefully controlled
• Traditional activities such as timber production, hunting, fishing and grazing are not permitted
• Buffer Zone –
• Managed for research, education and training activities and manipulative methods and techniques are permitted
• Limited traditional activities including timber production, hunting fishing and grazing are permitted
• Transition Zone –
• Also called as Area of Cooperation
• The large outer area of reserve where people live and work, using the natural resources of the area in a sustainable manner
• Local communities, management agencies, scientists, NGOs cultural groups and other stakeholders can work together.

­MAB Programme –

• The programme of Biosphere Reserve was initiated under the Man & Biosphere (MAB) programme by UNESCO in 1971.
• World Network of biosphere reserves of the MAB Programme fosters the harmonious integration of people and nature for sustainable development
• To date, 651 biosphere reserves in 120 countries, including 15 trans boundary sites, have been included in the World Network of biosphere reserves
• They are internationally recognized, nominated by National Governments and remain under sovereign jurisdiction of the states where they are located
• The secretarial of the MAB Programme is located with UNESCO Headquarters Paris.
• Biosphere Reserves serve in some ways as living laboratories for testing out and demonstrating integrated management of land, water and biodiversity

Biosphere Reserves in India –

• There are 18 biosphere reserves in India.
• Nine of the eighteen biosphere reserves are a part of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves
• First biosphere reserves in India to be notified was Nilgiri biosphere reserve

Modes of Conservation

1. In-situ Conservation –

• Onsite conservation or the conservation of genetic resources in natural populations of plant or animal species.
• It is the process of protecting an endangered plant or animal species in its natural habitat.
• In-situ conservation is being done by declaring an area as protected area.
• In-situ locations –

1. Protected areas
2. National parks
3. Sanctuaries

• Biosphere reserves

1. Sacred forests

• It is also applied to conservation of agricultural biodiversity in agro forestry by farmers.

2. Ex-situ conservation –

• Ex-situ also conservation is the preservation of components biodiversity in agro forestry by farmers.
• This involves conservation of genetic resources, as well as wild and cultivated or species.
• It requires a wide range of techniques and facilities
• Ex-situ locations –

1. seed banks
2. Captive breeding locations
3. Animal translocations
4. Tissue culture banks
5. Botanical gardens
6. Zoological gardens

Biodiversity Hotspots

Concept –

• A biodiversity hotspot is a bio-geographic region with a significant reservoir of biodiversity that is under threat from humans.
• The concept of hot spots was developed by Norman Myers in 1988 to designate priority areas for in situ conservation.

Criterion for hotspots –

1. Endemism: The area should support more than 1500 endemic species of vascular plants.
2. Habitat loss: It must have lost over 70% of the original habitat.

Hotspots in India –

India is represented with 4 biodiversity hotspots

1. Western ghats –

• The Western Ghats are a chain of hills that run along the western edge of peninsular India over the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
• These regions have moist deciduous forest and rain forest.
• There are over 6000 vascular plants belonging to over 2500 genera in these hotspots, of which over 3000 are endemic.
• Nearly 77% of the amphibians and 62% of the reptile species found here are found nowhere else.
• Much of the world’s species such as black pepper and cardamom have their origins in the Western ghats.
• The highest concentration of species in the Western Ghats is believed to be the Agasthyamalai iHiHhiHhhhhhHills in the extreme south.

2. Eastern Himalayas –

• The eastern Himalayas is the region encompassing Bhutan, North Eastern India, and Southern, central, and eastern Nepal.
• There are an estimated 10,000 species of plants in the Himalayas, of which one-third are endemic
• The Eastern Himalayas hotspot has nearly 163 globally threatened species
• The only endemic genus in the hotspot is the Namadapha flying squirrel which is critically endangered.
• Major threatened species include –
• One-horned Rhinoceros
• Wild Asian Water buffalo
• Relict Dragonfly
• Himalayan Newt, the only salamander species found within Indian limits.
• Major threatened endemic bird species include –
• Himalayan quail
• Cheer pheasant
• Western tragopan
• Himalayan vulture
• White-bellied heron
• Himalayas are home to 300 species of mammals, a dozen of which are endemic.

3. Indo-Burma region

• Indo-Burma region encompasses several countries from Eastern Bangladesh to Malaysia.
• It includes
• North-Eastern India south of Brahmaputra river
• Myanmar, the southern part of China’s Yamuna province, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand.
• This region is home to several primate species such as monkeys, languor and gibbons with populations numbering only in the hundreds.
• Many of the species, especially some freshwater turtle species, are endemic
• Almost 1,300 bird species exist in this region including the threatened whit-earned night-heron, the grey-crowned crocias, and the orange-necked partridge.
• It is estimated that there are about 13,500 plant species in this hotspot, with over half of them endemic. Ginger, for example, is native to this region.

4. Sundaland –

Sundaland is a region in South-East Asia that covers the western part of the Indo-Malayan archipelago

• It includes Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, India and Indonesia.
• India is represented by the Nicobar Islands
• United Nations declared the islands a World Biosphere Reserve in 2013.
• The islands have a rich terrestrial and marine ecosystem that includes mangroves, coral reefs and sea grass beds.
• The marine biodiversity includes several species such as whales, dolphins, dugong, turtles, crocodiles, fishes, prawns, lobsters, corals and sea shells.
• Threats – over exploitation of marine resources and forests.

Critical Wildlife Habitats

About –

Critical Wildlife Habitats are the areas of national parks and sanctuaries kept as inviolate for the purposes of wildlife conservation.

• It has been envisaged in Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers Act 2006.
• But the same act duly recognizes the traditional rights of the forest dwellers.
• Critical Wildlife Habitats are designated by central government through MoEF

Facts –

Before a critical wildlife area is notified, scientific evidence has to be provided to establish that people’s presence would adversely in impact the wildlife in area.

• Prior consent of the concerned gram sabha is required to create the critical wildlife habitats.
• Consent of the Gram Sabha must be obtained before any relocation of the forest dwellers is carried out.

Cities

Basics –

• Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora(1975)
• CITIES ensures that international trade of wild animals and plants does not threatened their survival.
• Also known as Washington convention

Formation –

• CITIES was drafted as a result of a resolution adopted in 1963 at a meeting of members of IUCN.
• CITIES entered into force on 1 July 1975.
• CITIES is an international agreement to which States adhere voluntarily.
• The CITIES Secretariat is administered by UNEP and is located at Geneva, Switzerland.

Trade in Wildlife –

• International wildlife trade is estimated to be worth billions of dollars.
• The trade is diverse, ranging from live animals and plants to a vast array of wildlife products derived from them.
• Wildlife products include –
• Food products
• Exotic leather goods.
• wooden musical instruments
• timber
• tourist curious
• medicines
• High levels of exploitation of some animal and plant species for trade has led to decrease and even extinction of certain species.

Rules –

• Trade in wild animals and plants crosses borders between countries, hence, the effort to regulate it requires international cooperation.
• CITIES protects more than 35,00 species of animals and plants, whether they are traded as live specimens, fur coats or dried herbs.
• CITIES controls only the international movement of the species.

Process –

CITEIS works by subjecting international trade in specimen of selected species to certain controls.

• The species covered by CITIES are listed in three Appendices, according to the degree of protection they need.
• Appendices –
• Appendix I

Includes species threatened with extinction

Trade in specimens of these species is permitted only in exceptional circumstances.

• Appendix II –

Includes species not necessarily threatened with extinction.

But includes species in which trade must be controlled in order to avoid utilization incompatible with their survival.

• Appendix III –
• Includes species that are protected in at one country, which has asked other CITIES Parties for assistance in controlling the trade.
• If a species is in danger of extinction then the treaty will impose a ban on the commercial trade of the listed species.