Biodiversity loss worryingly high

Biodiversity is the variability among living organisms from all sources including among others, terrestrial, marine and other ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; including diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems. In simple terms, biodiversity is the number of variety of organisms found within a specified geographical region. It refers to the varieties of plants, animals and microorganisms, the genes they contain and the ecosystem they form. Gaining understanding in the degree of genetic variation within individual species, the concept of conserving all biological diversity became thoughtful in late 1980s. Biodiversity has taken center stage in the planning and strategy of Environmental and Conservation Bodies throughout the world.

Biodiversity crisis: According to the Living Planet Report by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), October 2022, more than 99.9 per cent of all species that lived on Earth, amounting to over five billion species, are estimated to be extinct. There has been about 69 per cent decline in the wildlife population of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish across the globe in the last 50 years. The highest decline, 94 per cent was in Latin America and Caribbean region. According to WWF report, Africa recorded 66 percent fall in wildlife population, the Asia Pacific 55 percent and population of freshwater species reduced by 83 percent globally.

According to WWF report, mangroves continue to be lost to aquaculture, agriculture and coastal development at a rate of 0.13 per cent per year. Many mangroves are also degraded by over-exploitation and pollution alongside natural stressors such as storms and coastal erosion. It further mentioned that about 137 square kilometres of the Sundarbans mangrove forest in India and Bangladesh has been eroded, since 1985.

The main drivers of biodiversity loss are as follows:

Habitat loss: It is one of the main drivers of extinction of plants and animals. Land cleaning and deforestation for agriculture and other activities have resulted in wildlife species losing significant natural habitats. As per Living Planet Report, there has been 30 percent decline in wetlands - for agriculture etc in the last 40 years.

Overexploitation of species: Overfishing has led to depletion of the much-demanded Tuna. Over hunting and poaching of species quickly lead to decline in biodiversity. The Stellar’s sea cow, passenger pigeon, Tasmanian tiger and Cheetah from India (though reintroduced) are among a list of species that have been poached to extinction.

Introduction of Invasive Species; can lead to biodiversity loss. These are non-native species that significantly modify or disrupt the ecosystems they colonize. For example, the brown tree snake in Guam, which was accidentally introduced, in less than two decades of its arrival, this species led to extinction of 10 native bird species.

Pollution is another driver, as in a polluted area, the quality of food, water or other habitat resources decline, sometimes the species have to move away or perish, such events cause loss of genetic diversity of the species in the area. Climate change; is great challenge and causes biodiversity loss. In 2014, as temperature topped 40 degrees Celsius, in eastern Australia, half of the region’s black flying fox population perished, with thousands of bats succumbing to the heat in one day.

The planetary boundaries concept presents a set of nine planetary boundaries within which humanity can continue to develop and thrive for generations to come. It is clear that out of 9 planetary boundaries - safe operating space for humanity, biodiversity loss, climate change, land-use change, geochemical cycle, freshwater use, ocean acidification, chemical pollution, atmospheric loading and ozone depletion – the first four have already been exceeded. According to Global Outlook report, these breaches are directly linked to human-induced desertification, land degradation and droughts.

Biodiversity scenario in India: India has 2.4 per cent of world’s land area and global species diversity of 8.1 per cent, including 45,000 recorded plant and 91,000 recorded animal species. The Conservation International has identified 17 mega diverse countries including India and the country has four global biodiversity hotspots.

The biodiversity hotspots are essential for maintaining ecosystem balance, geographical regions rich in endemic, rare and threatened species, facing threat to habitat loss. These hotspots are:

Eastern Himalayas: It has evergreen forests, includes trees like Oak and Alpine and fauna; Heron, slow loris, snow cock etc.

Indo-Burma hotspots: They include Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar and regions around Brahmaputra river. It comprises threatened species of grey crowned Crocias etc.

Sundaland hotspot: It lies in Nicobar Islands and extend to tectonic plate under Indian ocean. It has Sumatra rhinos, orangutans and home to the world’s largest flower Rafflesia (one meter diameter).

Western Ghats hotspot: It has montane tropical rainforests, home to black panther, pig-nosed purple frog etc.

Indian wetlands: India has 75 Ramsar sites, which are wetlands, largest in Asia. Indian government has announced Amrit Dharohar scheme, under which these wetlands are to be protected for sustaining aquatic biodiversity and generate income for local communities.

The recent intervention by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, to stop the draining of Haiderpur, a Ramsar wetland in Uttar Pradesh, to safeguard migratory waterfowl is encouraging. The Government of India has also launched MISHTI Yojana (Mangrove Initiative for Shoreline Habitats and Tangible Income), to revive mangroves and coastal ecosystems.

Although biodiversity loss is a global problem, it can only be countered with local solutions. There cannot be one-size-fits-all approach. This could be zero-budget natural farming in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana or community-driven forest conservation initiatives in Northeast etc. It would be better that communities close to the nature are at the center of our actions.

The importance of our planet’s biodiversity was strongly articulated at United Nations Conference on Biodiversity in Montreal, Canada in December 2022, the member countries adopting an agreement to “halt and reverse” biodiversity loss by conserving 30 percent of the world’s land and 30 percent of world’s oceans by 2030. The Government of India has already approved National Mission on Biodiversity and Human Wellbeing, which is being launched by the government.

The mission explores to harness the skills and interdisciplinary knowledge, for greening India and its economy, to restore and enrich our natural wealth for wellbeing of our people and positioning India as a leader in biodiversity conservation. India currently hosts over 17 percent of the planet’s human population and 17 percent of the global area in biodiversity hotspots, placing it at the helm to guide the world in becoming biodiversity champions.

Human species are an integral and influential component of biodiversity. Our cultures shape the biodiversity around us, and biodiversity shapes our cultures and our future here on Earth. “Prakruti: Rakshati Rakshita”

(“Nature Protects if She is Protected”). (Writer is a retired IFS officer)