The Importance Of Biological Diversity

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Biological diversity or biodiversity is defined as the “variability among living organisms existing on the earth in various ecosystems and ecological complexes”. This variability among the living organisms is the basis for continuous evolution and maintaining life sustainability on earth. There is a widespread concern about protecting the biodiversity around the world and its seen evident among human beings. They are dependent on the biodiversity for their daily food, shelter and fuels. These resources are inevitable in human life for their living and survival. Most countries depend on the “plant genetic resource” as the major source of food for the world populations (Brahmi, Dua & Dhillon, 2004). The economic value of biological diversity and genetic resources range from “US$800 billion to US$ 1 trillion” it does not come from a single biological resource; it is from all products and services (Suneetha, Pisupati, & Kumar, 2009).
The major concern is that the distribution of biodiversity wealth is uneven around the world. In the globe there are only 17 countries recognised as Mega diverse (rich in biodiversity or diversity among species) regions. India is one among the 17 Mega diverse countries. These 17 countries hold 70% of the total biodiversity resources (Jacobs, 2014). These countries are mostly either least developing countries (LDCs) or developing countries. The people in those countries develop economically, socially and culturally by the continuous and sustainable use of such resources for several hundreds of years. Still there are several communities which depend on the biological resource for their “physical and cultural survival” than economic values (Amiott, 2003). The unfair distribution of resources made the indust...

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...on, it is necessary to answer a few sub questions. They are as follows;
• To determine the international legal background for biodiversity protection.
• To determine the Biodiversity Act and Rules in India for biodiversity protection.
• To find out steps taken by Government of India to comply with Nagoya protocol on access and benefit sharing mechanisms (ABS).
1.2 Overview:

In this paper, the sub-questions serve as a guideline to structure the paper.
• In chapter 2, international legal frameworks for biodiversity protection are discussed.
• In chapter 3, brief introductions about Biodiversity Protection Act and Rules and emphasis will be more on the Access and benefit sharing mechanism.
• In chapter 4, what are the steps taken by India so far to comply with Nagoya protocol after ratifying it?
• In chapter 5, conclusions and reflection on the discussed topic.

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