India is a land of varied flora and fauna. It is one of the 12 mega biodiversity hotspots of the world. Two of India’s great mountain ranges, the Eastern Himalayas and the Western Ghats, have been designated among the world’s 18 biodiversity hotspots.
But, in the last few decades, we have seen a steady increase in the extinction rate of flora and fauna all over the world including India. The conservation of biodiversity is of paramount importance to our survival.
The negative factors that are causing the depletion of flora and fauna in India are:
- Excessive consumption of natural resources for fulfilling human needs such as wood, barks, leaves, rubber, medicines, dyes, food, fuel, fodder, manure, etc.
- The expansion of the railways, agriculture, commercial and scientific forestry and mining activities.
- Large-scale development of projects and mining activities.
- Unequal access, inequitable consumption of resources and differential sharing of responsibility for environmental well-being.
