D.K.Belsare Former Prof & Dean Life Sciences Barkatullah University Bhopal P.O.Box 531, Bhopal

Biodiversity means Variety and Variability of Species  Ephemeral phenomenon  all forms of life, including all species and genetic variants within species  all ecosystems that contain and sustain those diverse forms of life.

It is life supporting system. Biodiversity also provides inputs for agriculture without which production; either would not occur or would be greatly decreased Provides ecological services: Contribution to climate stability Protection of water resources Nutrient storage and cycling Soil formation and protection Pollution breakdown and absorption Maintenance of ecosystems Recovery from unpredictable events

Source of biological resources. What can they give us?  Source of food, medicine, wood products, ornamental plants, breeding stock & population reservoirs.  Future resources: Sunscreens from corals, Light and high tensile fibres from spider silk, Instant adhesives from velvet worms or barnacles.  High polymer- propolis prepared by bees. It is antiviral & antibacterial. Instant pain reliever  Lac from lac insects  Chips development for solar energy from nanostructure of wings of butterflies

Social benefit:  Research, education and Monitoring.  Cultural values  Recreation  etc

Impact of climate change on biodiversity of India MoEF Study  Adverse effect on agriculture, health, forestry and infrastructure.  Temperature rise by 3 o C to 4 o C towards the end of 21 st century.  Reduction in wheat and rice yields. Rainfall patterns and quantities in periods of drought in some regions, more rainfall in central India and reduced rain in the north-east, leading to changes in forestry and vegetation. Rain spells in the Ganga, Krishna and Godavari more intense  Number of rainy days may be reduced in the western parts of the Gangetic basin.  70% of vegetation vulnerable to change.  Adverse impact on wildlife and other biological species.

Climate change on Forests of India Sukumar & Ravindran 1995  Shift in vegetation type boundaries i.e in Western Ghats the moist forest species are shifting eastward.  Species of lower altitude migrating to higher altitude.  Mountain forests of Western Ghats would change into grasslands.  Increase in dry season length would increase the risk of forest fires in moist and dry deciduous forests.

How our industries understand climate change?  Green business survey of climate risk’ conducted in 2008 of 213 companies of India  58% companies -----deep understanding of climate change issues  54% companies measured their emissions either completely or partially  16% measured their emissions completely.  71 % companies from the chemical and fertilizers sector perceived physical risk from climate change to their companies.  69% from the automotive industry professed regulatory risk as a threat, reputation.

 Climate change or climate breakdown’ due to global warming.  GHGs emissions. Carbon limit of 450 ppm suggested by IPCC is outdated.  To stabilize climate : limit should be brought down to 350 ppm by  air capture of CO 2 or by the bio-sequestration route. How to reduce GHGs?

Conclusions  The climate change affects biological processes such as metabolism, nutrient requirements and biochemical activities quickly react to them.  The behavioural response like migration, and geographic distribution are changed.  Reproductive physiology and breeding behaviour of animals are directly affected by photoperiods, temperature and precipitation.

Conclusions  Changes in atmospheric CO 2 and methane can affect plant species and indirectly animal species. The entire food web is affected and becomes imbalanced.  The montane animals may be endangered and be eliminated as a result of climate change at high altitude. Tigers living at low altitude may move to high altitude to avoid temperature stress and may become endemic to that area. The visible effect is seen in some tiger reserves of India where tigers are vanished.  Those animal species which can not adopt to these changes may be extirpited by genetic drift.

Community actions for impact reduction.  Control of forest fires  Do not use slash & burn crop wastes. Plaugh them back to land  Restrict use of bioenergy & biofuels  No permission for coal-based industries after 2010  Use of clean energies like solar and wind power for running industries and household lights.  Total ban on fuel woods (storage of wet carbon) for energy  Use incinerators for burning dead bodies  Capture of CO2 from air