Chandrakar, Alok Kumar; Yadav Krishna Kumar; Gupta Neha and Kumar, Vinit
“Bio” mean life and “diversity” means variety, so biodiversity (or biological diversity) is the incredible variety of living things in nature and how they interact with each other. It is one of the most precious treasures. Every human being, plant and animal contribute to the diversity, beauty and functioning of the earth. Biodiversity is very complex and is often explained as the variety and variability of genes, species, and ecosystems.
For much of the time man lived in a hunter-gather society and thus depended entirely on biodiversity for sustenance. But, with the increased dependence on agriculture and industrialization, the emphasis on biodiversity has decreased. Indeed, the biodiversity, in wild and domesticated forms, is the source for most of humanity, food, medicine, clothing and housing, much of the cultural diversity and most of the intellectual and spiritual inspiration. It is, without doubt, the very basis of life. Further that, a quarter of the earth’s total biological diversity amounting to 1.7 million species, which might be useful to mankind in one way or other, would be in serious risk of existence over the next 2-3 decades. On realization that the erosion of biodiversity may threaten the very existence of life has awakened man to take steps to conserve it. It might be too late to save some species from extinction, but it’s not too late to take actions to save others. Together we can make big difference, and getting informed and motivated is a great way to start. In the present chapter the different aspects about threats and conservation measures are discussed in details especially on Indian prospective.