Biodiversity may be defined as the variety of life from, the ecological role they play and the genetic diversity they contain. Biodiversity can be considered as genetic taxonomic and ecosystem levels and the variety of sublevels also. There are two proverbs arising out of generation of human experience that the related to Biodiversity and are often heard in every day conservation. One is "Variety is the spice of life and the other "Don't put all your eggs in one basket" Variety among living organism certainly enriches our lives and has very practical value. It is much safer to have more than one kind of organism that can carry out vital functions. Currently there is much concern about loss of species diversity and also about loss of genetic diversity due to human activities as the twenty first century approach concerned about preservation of Biodiversity is reaching public and political levels.
Biological diverse ecosystems are more capable of resisting change and maintaining their functionality when subject to unusual climatic or biotic conditions. Ecosystem function provides various services of benefit to human society. These includes the maintaining of atmosphere and climate, soil conservation, nutrient cycling and the control of crops-pests and disease vectors. There are also non-consumptive scientific and recreational values to be derived from healthy ecosystems. The loss of biological diversity is a global crisis. There is hardly any region on the earth that is not facing ecological catastrophe. Of the 1.5 million species known to inhabit the Earth (humans are just one of them), one fourth to 'one third is likely to extinct within the next few decades. Biological extinction has been a natural phenomenon in geological history. But the rate of extinction was perhaps one species every 1000 years. But man's intervention has speeded up extinction rate went. Between 1600 and 1950, the rate of extinction is one species every 10 years. Currently it is perhaps one species every year.
The country has several problems such as overpopulation, large number of cattle heads, growing demand for land, energy and water supply. Unplanned developmental works and overexploitation of resources have made its living resources most vulnerable.
(Source: This is an excerpt taken from the My forest Journal - December 2013, Vol 49 (4). The author is Mr. Jagat Ram, IFS. You can read the article at https://bit.ly/2P0jZjM , page 57)
