Wakeup call on biodiversity

The 16th Conference of Parties (COP-16) to the international Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), held recently in Cali, Columbia, has proved a boon for India by spurring the government to revisit, and update, the country's National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBS-AP).

- SURINDER SUD

The earlier biodiversity management regime, drawn up initially in 1999 and amended in 2008 and 2014, had become outmoded, and needed a thorough revamp to serve the present-day needs. Its new version, presented at the COP-16, seeks to accommodate both national and global biodiversity protection agendas.

Besides, it aims to address some key ecological issues and socio-economic challenges, such as the water crisis, food and livelihood security, human-wildlife interactions, pollution, and the growing menace of diseases and disasters.

India is one of the 17 recognised mega-diverse countries, which, together, account for 70 per cent of global biodiversity. Though it has only 2.4 per cent of the world's land, it hosts around 8 per cent of the recorded global biological resources, comprising 45,500 species of plants, 91,000 species of animals, and countless other living organisms, many of which are yet to be documented or even discovered. Of the country's overall bio-resources, 33 per cent plants, 55 per cent amphibians, 45.8 per cent reptiles, and 12.6 per cent mammals are endemic to India, being found nowhere else in the world.

India also enjoys the distinction of having three of the world's 37 sites designated "Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems". These are Kashmir, for saffron; Koraput, in Odisha, for traditional agriculture; and Kuttanad, in Kerala, for below-sea level farming.