It is a well-known fact that the earth’s biodiversity has been under threat since the turn of the 20th century. So in 1992 at the Rio Earth Summit, 150 government leaders signed a document called the ‘Convention on Biological Diversity’ (CBD) and committed to conserve the planet’s biological diversity, sustainable use of its components, and a fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of genetic resources. In April 2002, the members of CBD once again met to device a way to reduce biodiversity loss.
The CBD website, http://www.cbd.int/, is a great online window that covers all aspects of biodiversity peril and the remedial work being carried out.
The site has carefully chosen seven forms of biodiversity that are subjected to pollution and contamination on a large scale:
Agricultural Biodiversity
Dry and sub-humid land biodiversity
Forest biodiversity
Inland water biodiversity
Island biodiversity
Marine and coastal
biodiversity
Mountain biodiversity
Each topic carries information on its current status followed by details of the clean-up drive. For example, the section on agriculture biodiversity answers four questions:
What is agricultural biodiversity?
Why is agricultural biodiversity important?
What is the problem?
What needs to be done?
Details about programmes related to agricultural biodiversity include background, COP decisions, programme of work, cross-cutting initiatives and biofuels. Implementation details include current activities, resources and tools, national reports, international reports and treaties. Under the ‘Mechanisms for Implementation’ section, you can browse National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs), a sub-link that provides information on the measures taken to execute the convention, cooperation and partnerships, financial resources and mechanism, clearing-house mechanism — promoting cooperation, exchanging information and developing a network of partners and biosafety clearing-house.
India, a signatory of the CBD, is one of the 17 ‘megadiverse’ countries with a wide spectrum of ecological habitats like forests, grasslands, wetlands, coastal and marine ecosystems and desert ecosystems. But the country has lost the Indian cheetah, Indian rhino, pink-headed duck, forest owlet and the Himalayan mountain quail over the years. A ‘National Biodiversity Strategy Action Plan’ was then structured to save the endangered species. You can read about all this and more at www.cbd.int.
