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...
... middle of paper ...
...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.
Critics of the revised agreement charged that the revisions were very minor, failed to fix the fundamental problems of the project, and in fact exacerbated those problems. The revised agreement expanded Phase I of the project from 695 megawatts to 740 megawatts and committed the state to both Phase I and the 1,320 megawatt Phase II portion of the project. As the Maharashtra St...
Despite protecting millions of acres of wilderness, this act provided for the numerous groups of people affected by the establishment of this law. Stipulations regarding the use of protected lands by private landowners were made. People living inside the park lands were guaranteed the right to subsistence hunting and fishing, as well as the guaranteed access to their lands. This right of access is the main concern for this argument, as it is a major management issue for park officials and land owners alike.
As discussed previously, Kareiva and Marvier argue that focusing on human welfare does not have to sacrifice biodiversity (962-969). However, some find that the argument only holds when conservation itself is tied to a clearly outlined conservation agenda (Sanderson and Redford 389). For conservation efforts to be successful, multiple countries and agencies need to cooperate (“Lecture Week 13”). Conservationists, economists, and political strategists must find conservation issues that do not hinder efforts to alleviate issues of the human condition such as global poverty and world hunger. In actuality, biodiversity loss and poverty are linked, but conservation strategies that will reap success in integrating the two need clear conceptual frameworks (Adams et al. 1146). In order to find a balance and to foster stability for lasting and sustainable development and environmental health, it is important to take humans out of the equation when assessing the status of the environment, and to implement formal scientific strategies to conservation policies (Erwin
Diversity has many definitions but only one true meaning. This concept Analysis is dedicated to exploring the broadened sense of diversity through active concepts with respect to term usage, and current literature research to support the understanding and relevance of the term itself.
Golding, J, Güsewell, S, Kreft, H, Kuzevanov, VY, Lehvävirta, S, Parmentier, I & M Pautasso. 2010. Species-richness patterns of the living collections of the world’s botanic gardens: a matter of socio-economics? Ann. Bot. 105:689–696.
Long-term survival of a species depends on its ability to adapt to changing environmental conditions (Murphy, 1994). Genetic diversity within a species, which has taken 3.5 billion years to evolve, makes adaptations to these changing environments possible. Unfortunately, the rate of extinction of genetically diverse organisms is rapidly increasing, thus reducing this needed biodiversity, largely due to the human impacts of development and expansion. What was an average of one extinction per year before is now one extinction per hour and extinct species numbers are expected to reach approximately one million by the year 2000 (WWW site, Bio 65). As a result governmental and societal action must be taken immediately!
In The Diversity of Life, Edward O. Wilson reflects on how the living world became diverse and how humans are destroying that diversity. In the book’s preface, Wilson defines biodiversity as “the totality of inherited variation in all organisms in a selected area” (Wilson ix). He adds that modern technology will allow for us to find many new species that were previously unknown to be in existence.
Modern society faces the challenge of developing its infrastructure and economy whilst improving the quality of the environment and biodiversity. The United Kingdom government’s Departments for Agricultural and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has suggested that these contending aspirations can potentially both be accomplished through a planning strategy known as Biodiversity Offsetting.
Chapter four of Who Really Feeds the World?, focuses on how Biodiversity is one of the main components of how the world gets fed. Shiva states how over the course of history over seven thousand species have fed the world. However, today on roughly thirty species make up roughly ninety percent of the calories in the typical human diet, yet only three species make up fifty percent of this ninety percent. These three species include, rice, wheat and maize which can be found in many varieties of foods consumed by the human race. The production industries in the world have strayed away from biodiversity systems due to the perception that they are negative due to low production, however, the mass production farms are destroying biodiversity and causing
Protect biodiversity by opposing the privatisation and manipulation of the plant and animal gene pool.
Vandermeer, J. & Perfecto, I. Breakfast of Biodiversity. The Institute for Food and Development Policy: Oakland, CA, 1995.
The Convention on Biological Diversity (hereafter: “CBD”) is an international treaty adopted by United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, held at Rio de Janeiro in June 1992 and came into force on December 29, 1993. Initially when it came into force there were 168 members now it is 193 in total. The aim to protect biodiversity and the dramatic steps taken for conservation, sustainable use and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits attracted the world communities to become members (History of the Convention, n.d). In principle the convention on biological diversity changed the ownership concept of biodiversity protection i.e. (“common heritage of humankind”) to the “sovereign right” of each member country (Hirsch, 2012). It is the responsibility of the each member to develop and implement policies in a way that helps in the conservation and sustainable use of biological resources. It also recognizes the knowledge of local and indigenous people for conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity (Brahmi et al., 2004).The article 8(j) of CBD has an important provision which gives the member state rights to “respect, preserve and maintain” traditional style and knowledge about the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity. The protection must promote the wider application of such knowledge and stimulate innovation and also ensure that the benefits are shared in fair and equitable manner to the communities.
Agricultural biodiversity is the food chains, develop and safeguard that will contribute to feeding the world. Agricultural revolution begins at the wild plant species in various parts of the world. It provides us with a safe source of food. This develops the development of human life, society and culture. Some elements of agricultural biodiversity have made and continue to make appreciable contributions to human diets is scarce and correlating agricultural biodiversity with human nutrition is generally difficult for a number of reasons including human diversity. This explores the linkages between agriculture, food production, nutrition, and the resource base of wild and agricultural biodiversity in the context of increasing global change.
Economic valuation is an important component of environmental policy, although it is difficult to affix a cost on the environment and ecosystem services, it is a measurement that is relevant to most in society humans. Therefore, economic tools may be useful in reinforcing the importance of maintaining biodiversity and preserving fragile ecosystems.
Nowadays it is common to read articles in newspapers and magazines regarding biodiversity issues. Human beings have been knowingly and unknowingly destroying biodiversity since their existence. Biodiversity is the measure of the variety of species of animals living in an area. Forests are usually areas with high biodiversity while deserts are the opposite. Human beings have always destroyed biodiversity either by deforestation, or by some other means. Biodiversity depletion is a natural phenomenon. But the present levels of biodiversity depletion are many times higher than the natural rate. Recently the levels of loss in biodiversity have started causing global concern. Some of the main causes for loss in biodiversity are alteration of habitats, increasing levels of pollution and human population growth.