WHY ‘PROTECTED’ AREAS ARE SEEING FASTER BIODIVERSITY DECLINE

Context:
Biodiversity is declining more quickly inside key protected areas than outside them,
according to a new study. The findings, which raise questions about the on-going
conservation practices, suggest that merely designating more areas as protected
“will not automatically result in better outcomes for biodiversity”. The analysis
was carried out by the Natural History Museum (NHM), based in London, and
published on Monday. According to Dr Gareth Thomas the study’s findings should
be “a wake-up call” to policymakers and enforcers of the legislation that it
was not enough just to designate an area as protected.

Biodiversity

·       About: The
biodiversity of a region is influenced by climatic factors as well as human
interventions. The diversity of life on earth is essential for the healthy
functioning of ecosystems and it is biodiversity that boosts ecosystem
productivity.

·       Status: Globally,
approximately 1.75 million species have been documented and formally named to
date, and there are good grounds for believing that several million more
species exist but have yet to be discovered and described. This means that
millions of organisms remain a complete mystery to us.

·       Biodiversity in India: India is
one of the 17 world's recognised mega-diverse countries, home to roughly 7-8%
of all documented species and four of the 36 globally defined biodiversity
hotspots.

India’s rich biodiversity: Because of
the varying edaphic, climatic, and topographic conditions as well as years of
geological stability, a diverse range of ecosystems and habitats have emerged
in India including forests, grasslands, wetlands, deserts, and coastal and
marine ecosystems.

Flora and fauna: Over 1, 03,258 species of
fauna and 55,048 species of flora have been documented in the 10 biogeographic
zones of the country.

Ø  India has
28,948 endemic species of fauna, while 12,095 known plant species are endemic.

Wetland ecosystem: About 4,445 km2 of the
country is under mangroves. India is blessed with rich fish diversity with a
current distribution of 783 species of freshwater fishes which includes 223
endemic fishes. India currently has 80 Ramsar Sites.

Forest cover: 23.39% of the geographical area of
the country is under forest cover with 16 major forest types and 251 sub-types.

Key
points

·       Overview: The
researchers involved in the study examined the Biodiversity Intactness Index (BII),
which estimates how much of a region’s natural biodiversity is still left on average.

·       Research conducted: They found
that the index has decreased by 1.88 percentage points globally between 2000
and 2020.  The researchers also examined
critical biodiversity areas (CBAs)—ecosystems and areas such as wetlands that
are crucial for biodiversity — 22% of which is protected. They found that
“within those critical areas that were not protected, biodiversity had declined
by an average of 1.9 percentage points between 2000 and 2020, and within the areas
that were protected it had declined by 2.1 percentage points.

·       Reasons of decline: One of the
primary reasons for the decline is that many of the protected areas are not
designed to safeguard the whole ecosystem but only certain species. Another
threat to the protected areas is oil, gas, and mining concessions — land granted
by the government to companies which explore for and produce oil, natural gas,
and other hydrocarbons.

Ø  For
instance, more than 65% of the Conkouati-Douli national park, which is one of
the most biodiverse protected areas in the Republic of the Congo, is occupied
by oil and gas concessions.

The climate
crisis also has a role to play. The researchers said that more frequent and intense
droughts and wild fires have severely impacted the protected areas.

Ø  For
example, several of Australia’s national parks, which have been stringently protected
by authorities, were destroyed by wildfires in 2019.

·       Way forward: In-situ conservation- In-situ
conservation efforts include protection of ‘Protected Areas’ such as Biosphere
reserves, National parks and wildlife sanctuaries, biodiversity hotspots, and Sacred
groves and the biodiversity in these protected areas.

Ex-situ conservation- In this
approach, threatened animals and plants are taken out of their natural habitat
and placed in special settings where they can be protected and given special
care.