In order to maintain and conserve biodiversity, the Ministry of Environment and Forests, government of India has already taken several steps to manage wildlife, the objectives of which are:
- Maintenance of a number of species in protected areas such as National Parks, Sanctuaries.
- To improve the biosphere reserves
- Implement strict restrictions of export of rare plants and animals
- Educate the public on these through the government agencies and NGO’s.
In-situ conservation
The preservation of species in its natural ecosystem is called in-situ conservation. As a consequence, protected areas are being identified and maintained for natural conservation of species by individual countries. For the conservation and management of endangered species several projects have been established.
These are:
Tiger Projects
Corbett National Park which is 300 km from New Delhi is the oldest National Park of India having 1318.54 sq km. It was one of the nine Tiger Reserves created at the launch of the Project Tiger in 1973.
Gir Lion Projects
The Gir Forest of Gujarat where lions are found. This has an area of 1412 sq kms and declared as a National Park.
Elephant Projects
The objective was to ensure long-term survival of population of elephants ( not come into operations). Project Elephant (PE), a centrally sponsored scheme, was launched in February 1992 to provide financial and technical support to major elephant bearing States in the country for protection of elephants and their habitats. The Project is being implemented in 13 States/UTs, viz..Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. There are about 7000 protected areas in the world which include a variety of National parks, Sanctuaries etc which vary in size (between 100 to 500 sq km), purpose (protection of one or more species and their habitats).. In India, there are 39 National Parks and 492 wildlife sanctuaries.
National Parks
These are protected areas exclusively for wild life. Human activities like hunting, Firewood collection, timber harvesting etc. are restricted in these areas to that wild plants and animals could grow in a protected environment
The following measures should be adopted for the conservation of biodiversity:
1. Over grazing in the forest and areas of vegetation should be controlled because it may Destroy the useful rare plants.
2. The habitat of plants and animals should be conserved.
3. The natural condition of ecosystem should be studied and researched in time and again, then Specific programs for conservation should be conducted.
4. Human activities should be done without destroying natural environment.
5. Illegal hunting and smuggling of animals and plants should be strictly avoided.
6. Effective laws and rules should be adopted for the conservation of rare animals and plants.
7. Industries are established from the raw materials. During the process of collecting raw materials, care should be taken not to destroy useful plants and habitats of animals.
8. Public awareness should be created about the importance of rare animals and plants, causes of rareness and measures for their preservation.
Ex-situ conservation
The conservation of elements of biodiversity out of the context of their natural habitats is referred to as ex-situ conservation. Zoos, botanical gardens and seed banks are all example of ex-situ conservation. In India we have the following important gene and seed bank facilities.
i) National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR) is located in New Delhi. Here agricultural and horticultural crops are stored by cryopreservation of seeds, pollens etc. by using liquid nitrogen at a low temperature as low as -196°C.
ii) National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources (NBAGR) located at Karnal, Haryana. It preserves the semen of domesticated bovine animals.