Recently, I had the opportunity to interact with bureaucrats from the Andhra Pradesh State Biodiversity Board. I came to know about the rich biological diversity present in my home country, India. I also got to study reports received from Mr.Sagar Suri and Ms.Nibedita Mukherjee, both of whom are renowned environmentalists. In this article I share the information I have learnt.

The Indian sub-continent is located in the Southern part of the Asian continent. It is an area of 3,287,263 sq. km (329 mha). It is the seventh largest country in the world. It has a long coastline which no other country along the Indian Ocean has. It has varied climatic conditions and an excellent geographical position which has resulted in the growth of millions of species of flora and fauna. This is the reason India is called a ?Mega Bio diverse Country?. It has 7-8% of the recorded species of the world. Conservation of such high levels of biodiversity has always been an important part of Indian law and culture. Many movements such as the ?Chipkoo Movement?, where people would stand surrounding the tree to prevent lumberjacks from cutting it, ?Vanamohatsav?, a festival celebrated by planting trees and Anti-Jhooming Movement, which sort to ban the ?Slash and Burn? form of agriculture are the evidence of the fact that India has always respected the sustainable use of biodiversity, which has been an integral part of its ethos.

At one of the UNEP?s conference, seventeen biodiversity ?hotspots? were identified. Theses hotspots were geographical places that had important and endangered species of flora and fauna. Among these 17 hotspots, India is home to three of themwhich include the Himalayan Mountain Ranges in North and North East India, the Indo-Burma border in North East India and the Western Ghats in Western India.

India ranks 1^st among the countries with Marine Biodiversity in terms of species richness. India?s coastline consists of around 5800 species of fishes that are economically important. This also indicates towards the amount of pressure on the coast line and the marine biodiversity of India. The biggest problem is the industrial wastes and effluents that are released into the water bodies along with domestic waste water and sewage from habitations. The natural coast and marine life help in climate change mitigation, carbon sequestration, transport and trade, economic development and provide recreational facilities to the people. Thus it is a matter of urgent importance that stringent action is taken to prevent the loss of marine biodiversity, which is taking place at an alarming rate. Water pollution has to be reduced. The Indian legislation has enacted many laws to do so, which include the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act 1974, Environment Protection Act 1986 and the Water Cess Act 1977 have been introduced. Rain water harvesting is also being practiced to reduce ground water pollution and surface run off.

India consists of about 18700 plant and 390 mammal species along with 458 bird and 521 reptile species. To protect this, the government has declared most of the Indian Evergreen and Sub tropical forests as ?Reserved Forests (RF)? which makes it a crime to cut trees or hunt animals that live in these forests.  The Slash and Burn form of agriculture where in certain tribal communities used to burn down trees to create land for agriculture has also been legally banned. Even the farmers have been educated to use environment friendly methods of agriculture that include the minimal use of chemical pesticides, soil conservation and prevention of overgrazing along with growing of new fresh cover fodder. This is successfully being implemented. The National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) of India has released reports that indicate that over 1.30 million hectares of forest cover is being lost every year. The government has been trying to tackle this problem.

After the Conference of Parties (CoP 11) held in India by the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD), the government has cleared projects worth Rs. 10 billion to protect the loss of biodiversity. Technical and financial assistance is given to individuals, environmentalists, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and farmers to prevent loss of biodiversity. These measures have helped to reduce loss of over 50 million hectares of important forest land.

Let us hope that in the near future India builds up an environmental empire. An environmental Utopia that has zero pollution and zero loss of biodiversity.