Revision summary
India’s living wealth varies by biogeographic zone: Himalaya, north-east, Western Ghats, Deccan, desert, coasts, and islands. Hotspots and farm genetic resources both count as biodiversity. The 2002 Act sets NBA, State boards, and local BMCs, plus ABS and People’s Biodiversity Registers. That mesh fights bio-piracy and records local flora and fauna beside wildlife law. Registers and ABS must be real, and EIA must read them, or the Act stays a form.
Model answer
Copper italics in this answer — like this — are the key facts. Each one is unpacked in the Facts & figures rail.
Introduction
- India is one of the world’s megadiverse countries: Himalaya, desert, rain forest, coral, and island each hold a different living set. That variation is why a single national park law is not enough. The Biological Diversity Act, 2002 adds a legal mesh of national, State, and village bodies to conserve flora and fauna and to share benefits from their use.
Body
How biodiversity varies in India
- Himalaya (from Kashmir to Arunachal) holds alpine meadows, oak and rhododendron, snow leopard, musk deer, and a vertical stack of habitats in a short distance.
- North-east and the Eastern Himalaya are among the richest in bird, orchid, and mammal endemics; they sit on the Indo-Burma hotspot edge.
- Western Ghats (another hotspot) hold evergreen and shola-grassland systems, lion-tailed macaque, many amphibians, and wild relatives of pepper and rice.
- Deccan and central Indian forests are teak, sal, and bamboo country: tiger, elephant, gaur, and a different monsoon ecology from the wet Ghats.
- Thar and the cold high desert of Ladakh show how life thins but specialises: Great Indian Bustard country, snow desert ungulates, and drought-adapted plants.
- Coasts, Sundarbans mangroves, Gulf of Mannar, and the islands (Andaman, Nicobar, Lakshadweep) add coral, sea grass, saltwater crocodile, and island endemics that mainland law easily forgets.
- Gangetic floodplain and Western Ghats rivers hold mahseer and dolphin; wetlands of Chilika and Keoladeo are bird bottlenecks on flyways.
- Variation is therefore biogeographic: ten broad zones in the Rodgers and Panwar / later maps, plus agro-biodiversity of crops and livestock that farms still hold.
How the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 helps
- It creates a three-tier system: National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) at the Centre, State Biodiversity Boards (SBBs), and Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) at the local body.
- Access and benefit sharing (ABS): foreign and certain commercial users of biological resources and associated knowledge need approval; benefits can return to consenter communities.
- People’s Biodiversity Registers (PBRs) record local flora, fauna, and knowledge so conservation is not only a forest-department list.
- The Act can notify Biodiversity Heritage Sites and restrict damaging activity, adding a layer beside the Wildlife (Protection) Act and the Forest Acts.
- It implements the spirit of the Convention on Biological Diversity on sovereign rights over resources and on fair sharing, which a wildlife sanctuary alone does not do.
- Flora and fauna gain when habitats are documented and when bio-piracy of a seed or a medicine plant faces a legal gate.
Limits
- Many BMCs exist more on paper than in the field; PBRs can be thin copies.
- ABS cases are few relative to the bio-economy; researchers also complain of delay.
- Wildlife poaching and linear projects still run under other laws; the 2002 Act is not a substitute for protected-area management.
Way forward
- Fund BMCs to monitor and restore (sacred groves, tanks, village forests), not only to fill registers.
- Speed honest ABS so communities see money and so science is not choked.
- Link heritage sites and PBRs to Environmental Impact Assessment so a road cannot skip documented biodiversity.
- Treat crop and livestock diversity (seed keeper, pastoral breed) as fauna and flora under the same care, not only tigers.
Flow diagram
flowchart TD V[Himalaya Ghats NE desert coast islands] --> BD[Varied flora fauna] ACT[BDA 2002] --> NBA[NBA SBB BMC] ACT --> ABS[Access benefit sharing] ACT --> PBR[People's Biodiversity Registers] NBA[NBA] --> BD[BD] ABS --> COM[Community conservation]
Conclusion
India’s biodiversity changes with mountain, desert, Ghats, Deccan, coast, and island, and with the farm as well as the forest. The Biological Diversity Act, 2002 helps by creating NBA–SBB–BMC, ABS, and local registers that protect flora, fauna, and knowledge. It works when those bodies are alive and tied to land-use decisions, not when they are only offices.
Quick related
Students also ask
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Not many years ago, river linking was a concept but it is becoming reality in the country. Discuss the advantages of river linking and its possible impact on the environment.
Next question on this syllabus topic (2017 · Q8). View answer →
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Does the 2002 Act replace the Wildlife (Protection) Act?
No. It adds community registers, heritage sites, and benefit-sharing. Hunting and trade in scheduled species still sit mainly under wildlife law.
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Why do local registers matter for a tiger or a tree?
Because much flora and lesser fauna live outside national parks. A village list can stop silent loss and support a fair ABS claim.
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