accessions on long-term basis, as base collec-
So, its ex-situ
tions for posterity, predominantly in the form of
seeds.
Botanical garden
• Botanical garden refers to the scientifically
planned collection of living trees, shrubs, herbs,
climbers and other plants from various parts of
the globe.
Purpose of botanical gardens
• To study the taxonomy as well as growth of
plants.
• To study the introduction and acclimatization
process of exotic plants.
• It augments conserving rare and threatened spe-
cies.
Zoo
• Zoo is an establishment, whether stationary or
mobile, where captive animals are kept for exhi-
bition to the public and includes a circus and res-
cue centres but does not include an establish-
ment of a licensed dealer in captive animals.
• The initial purpose of zoos was entertainment,
over the decades, zoos have got transformed
into centres for wildlife conservation and envi-
ronmental education.
• Apart from saving individual animals, zoos have
a role to play in species conservation too
(through captive breeding).
• Zoos provide an opportunity to open up a whole
new world, and this could be used in sensitizing
visitors regarding the value and need for conser-
vation of wildlife.
Which one of the following is not a site for in-situ
method of conservation of flora?
a) Biosphere Reserves
b) Botanical Garden
c) National Park
d) Wildlife Sanctuary
• Botanical Garden: Plants are bred in a protected
environment far from their natural home,
especially for research purposes.
conservation.
• Rest all along with protected forests and re-
served forests are in-situ conservation methods.
Answer: b) Botanical Garden
5.5 Historic Citizen Movements to
Conserve Biodiversity
Chipko Movement
• It is a social-ecological movement that practiced
the Gandhian methods of satyagraha and non-
violent resistance, through the act of hugging
trees to protect them from falling.
• The modern Chipko movement started in the
early 1970s in the Garhwal Himalayas of Utta-
rakhand, with growing awareness towards rapid
deforestation.
• The landmark event in this struggle took place
on March 26, 1974, when a group of peasant
women in Reni village, Hemwalghati, in Chamoli
district, Uttarakhand, India, acted to prevent the
cutting of trees and reclaim their traditional
forest rights that were threatened by the con-
tractor system of the state Forest Department.
• Their actions inspired hundreds of such actions
at the grassroots level throughout the region.
• By the 1980s the movement had spread through-
out India and led to formulation of people-sen-
sitive forest policies, which put a stop to the open
felling of trees in regions as far reaching as Vin-
dhyas and the Western Ghats.
• The first recorded event of Chipko however, took
place in village Khejarli, Jodhpur district, in 1730
AD, when 363 Bishnois, led by Amrita Devi sacri-
ficed their lives while protecting green Khejri
trees, considered sacred by the community, by
hugging them.
Appiko Movement
• Appiko movement was a revolutionary move-
ment based on environmental conservation in
India.
• The Chipko movement in Uttarakhand in the
Himalayas inspired the villagers of the district of
116
 Karnataka province in southern India to launch a • According to CI, to qualify as a hotspot a region
similar movement to save their forests. must meet two strict criteria:
• In September 1983, men, women and children of 1) It must contain at least 1,500 species of
Salkani ‘hugged the trees’ in Kalase forest. (The vascular plants (> 0.5% of the world’s to-
local term for ‘hugging’ in Kannada is appiko.) tal) as endemics – which is to say, it must
• Appiko movement gave birth to a new aware- have a high percentage of plant life found
ness all over southern India. nowhere else on the planet. A hotspot, in
other words, is irreplaceable.
5.6 Biodiversity Hot Spots 2) It has to have lost at least 70% of its orig-
inal habitat. (It must have 30% or less of
its original natural vegetation). In other
• Biodiversity hotspots are regions with high
words, it must be threatened.
species richness and a high degree of ende-
• In 1999, CI identified 25 biodiversity hotspots in
mism.
the book “Hotspots: Earth’s Biologically Richest
• The British biologist Norman Myers coined the
and Most Endangered Terrestrial Ecoregions”.
term "biodiversity hotspot" in 1988 as a biogeo-
• In 2005 CI published an updated titled “Hotspots
graphic region characterized both by excep-
Revisited: Earth's Biologically Richest and Most
tional levels of plant endemism and by serious
Endangered Terrestrial Ecoregions”.
levels of habitat loss.
• The 35 biodiversity hotspots cover 2.3% of the
• Conservation International (CI) adopted My-
Earth's land surface, yet more than 50% of the
ers’ hotspots and in 1996, the organization made
world’s plant species and 42% of all terrestrial
the decision to undertake a reassessment of the
vertebrate species are endemic to these areas.
hotspots concept.
• In 2011, the Forests of East Australia region was
identified as the 35th biodiversity hotspot.

Biodiversity hotspots in India

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