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| Last Updated:: 22/07/2024

Biodiversity

                                                                            India and CBD                                                          
   

     Biodiversity is the variety of life on earth. It includes the variability of species in terrestrial, aerial and aquatic habitats, the diversity of ecosystems and the diversity of genes they harbor. It is an essential component of the nature and it ensures the survival of human species by providing food, fuel, shelter, medicines and other resources to mankind. Indirectly, biodiversity serves the humans by providing the basic life supporting systems such as clean air, water and fertile soil. The convention on biodiversity has defined it more precisely as the variability among living organisms from all sources including, INTER ALIA, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of  which they are part, this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems. Over the ages, human race used plants and animals as icons to establish cultural identity. The aesthetic value of biodiversity is better realized and it could not be valued ideally with the current economic valuation models. Of late, biodiversity is more reckoned for its unbelievable potential for supplying novel genes for a variety of applications in biotechnology and pharmacology.

 

      The Convention on Biological Diversity, of which India is a signatory, advocates      that every country has the responsibility to conserve, restore and sustainable use the biological diversity within its jurisdiction. Further, the human species has the moral responsibility to ensure the survival of other living beings in the biosphere and conserve them for the benefit of future generations. In fact, conservation ethos is interwoven in the cultural, spiritual and religious background of India, even though not fully practiced at present.

 

 

Kerala state is having rich biodiversity  with different types of unique ecosystems viz. Forest ecosystem,  Wetland  ecosystemMangrove ecosystemMarine ecosystem etc. Read more......  

 

 

 

 References

  • FishBase.org
  • State of the Environment Report (SoE) 2007 published by Kerala State Council for Science, Technology & Environment, Thiruvananthapuram.
  • Wikipedia.org
  • AmphibiaWeb.org
  • reptile-database.org
  • ibc.lynxeds.com
  • birdlife.org
  • birdskerala.com
  • Mammal Species of the World. Don E. Wilson & Dee Ann M. Reeder. JHU Press. 2005
  • keralaforest.org