Biodiversity for Sustainable Development

Planet’s biotic wealth–the genes, species, communities and ecosystem are very vast and diverse. The biotic wealth is facing severe threat from human population through habitat destruction and modification, hunting, etc. The loss of biological diversity may take forms but at its most fundamental and irreversible it involves the extinction of species. The book is introductory in nature that deals with status, utilization and management of world’s biological resources. The status and management of the biological wealth of India is also discussed. The book has five chapters and are divided thematically by major sub-heading and these are fully listed in the contents of each chapter. Chapter I. deals with basic concepts of biodiversity. Chapter 2 describes species richness of microorganism, plants and animals. Chapter 3 deals with threats and species extinction. It also gives summarized data about globally threatend animals and plants. Chapter 4 discusses about status, utilization and management or major habitats and ecosystems such as forests, grasslands, wetlands, mangrooves and coral reefs. Chapter 5 deals with national legal framework with reference to biodiversity, current practices in conservation, international cooperation, and priority areas and actions for conservation and sustainable use of biological resources.