BIO= Life DIVERSITY= Variety, Difference Richness and variety of life on earth Biological Diversity, Raymond F. Dasmann in 1968. Term biodiversity was coined in 1985, W.G. Rosen in 1985.  Charles Darwin: All species were linked in a single great phylogeny, or tree of life, and that all could be traced back to a presumed single original species at some distant time in the geological past. 

1. Biodiversity
Nabin Lamichhane
Purbanchal University
2021nabinlamichhane@gmail.com
www.pufomas.edu.np
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2. Biodiversity Preservation…
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3. OUTLINES
• Biodiversity
• Biodiversity in Hinduism and other Religion
• Biodiversity and Globe
• Biodiversity and Nepal
• Importance of Biodiversity
• Biodiversity Loss and its Drivers
• Effects of Biodiversity
• Conservation and Restoration
• National and International Efforts
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4. Biodiversity
• BIO= Life
• DIVERSITY= Variety, Difference
• Richness and variety of life on earth
• Biological Diversity, Raymond F. Dasmann in 1968.
• Term biodiversity was coined in 1985, W.G. Rosen in 1985.
• Charles Darwin: All species were linked in a single great phylogeny,
or tree of life, and that all could be traced back to a presumed single
original species at some distant time in the geological past.
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5. Biodiversity
• “the variability among living organisms from all sources including,
inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the
ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity
within species, between species and of ecosystems.”
• UN Convention of Biological Diversity
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6. Betana Wetland Area, Belbari, Along with East West Highway 6

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8. Biodiversity in HINDUISM
• Manifestations of God: Rivers, mountains, lakes, animals, flora the
mineral world, as well as the stars and planets
• ‘Earth is our mother’.
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9. Biodiversity in HINDUISM ….
Ayurveda, The Mahabharata, Ramayana, Vedas, Upanishads, Bhagavad
Gita, Puranas and Smriti
• Vastu Shastra
• Harmony with animals, Non Violence
• ‘Mata Bhumih Putroham Prithivyah’ means ‘Earth is my mother, I am
her son.’
• Pancha Mahabhutas (The five great elements) - space, air, fire, water,
and earth (Soil) - are the foundation of an interconnected web of life
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10. Biodiversity in HINDUISM …
• Charak Sanhita: Destruction of forests is taken as destruction of the
state, and reforestation an act of rebuilding the state and advancing
its welfare. Protection of animals is considered a sacred duty.
• Varah Purana: “One who plants one Peepal, one Neem, one Bar, ten
flowering plants or creepers, two Pomegranates, two Oranges and
five Mangos, does not go to hell.”
• Islam: Haqqual Makhloof (Rights of animals), Haqqual Allah (Rights of
God) and Haqqual Ibad (Rights of animals)
• Christinity: “ The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it”
• Buddhism: Non-violence, Peace
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11. Father of Biodiversity
Edward O. Wilson
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12. Biodiversity and Globe
• Approximately 1.9 millions species (identified)
• Claimed: 15 millions species
• Rate of Extinction:
• One Species per million species/year
• E.g. 15 extinction in 15 million species.
• The monetary value of goods and services per year = US$33 trillion.
(IUCN)
• Human activity has accelerated this natural extinction rate many fold
• The sixth great extinction event
• International Day for Biological Diversity, 22 May
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13. Biodiversity and Globe….
• Illegal business of wildlife animal parts and products : US $ 7 - 23
billion per year. (UN, 2016)
• Seizure cases of illegal wildlife parts and products show that Nepal is
mainly used as a transit country and also targeted as a source for
species such as the tigers, rhinos, snow leopards, red panda and
pangolins.
• Challenges in effective law enforcement are due to remoteness of
trading routes, limited coordination and sensitivity among law
enforcement agencies, inadequate skilled human resource and lack of
high-end technology makes Nepal susceptible to wildlife crime.
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15. Nepal
• Nepal: 0.1 percent of the global area
• Harbours 3% flora (Plants) and 1% Fauna (Animals) Globally
• Diverse climatic and geographic conditions
• Hill and mountain: 86%
• Plain Land: 14%
• Forest area: 29%
• Shrubland and degraded forest: 10.6%
• Grassland: 12%
• Farmland:21%
• Water body: 2.6
• Uncultivated inclusions: 7%
• 20 protected areas and 12 buffer zones : 23.23% of the total area.
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16. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10768568/pdf/agh-90-1-4161.pdf
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17. Importance of Biodiversity
• Ecological Stability
• Economic Importance
• Ethical Importance
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18. Ecological Stability
• Every species has a specific role in an
ecosystem. They capture and store energy and
also produce and decompose organic matter. The
ecosystem supports the services without which
humans cannot survive. A diverse ecosystem is
more productive and can withstand environmental
stress.
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19. Economic Importance
• Biodiversity is a reservoir of resources for the
manufacture of food, cosmetic products and
pharmaceuticals.
• Crops livestock, fishery, and forests are a rich
sources of food.
• Wild plants such as Cinchona and Foxglove plant
are used for medicinal purposes.
• Wood, fibres, perfumes, lubricants, rubber,
resins, poison and cork are all derived from
different plant species.
• The national parks and sanctuaries are a source of
tourism. They are a source of beauty and joy for 19

20. Ethical Importance
• All species have a right to exist. Humans
should not cause their voluntary extinction.
Biodiversity preserves different cultures and
spiritual heritage. Therefore, it is very
important to conserve biodiversity.
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21. Importance to Know Biodiversity, why?
• Biodiversity provides many goods and services essential to life on earth.
• Baseline health status of a community.
• Secure livelihoods and improve the resilience of communities
• The loss of resources : responsible for morbidity or mortality.
• Biodiversity supports human and societal needs,
• Food and nutrition security, energy,
• Development of medicines and pharmaceuticals and freshwater
• Economic opportunities, and leisure activities that contribute to overall wellbeing.
• Land use change, pollution, poor water quality, chemical and waste contamination,
climate change and other causes of ecosystem degradation all contribute to biodiversity
loss and, can pose considerable threats to human health.
• Human health and well-being are influenced by the health of local plant and animal
communities, and the integrity of the local ecosystems that they form.
• Infectious diseases burden is significant. Approximately 2/3rd of known human infectious
diseases are shared with animals, and the majority of recently emerging diseases are
associated with wildlife.
World Health Organization g21

22. Biodiversity loss—more than an environmental
emergency
• Biodiversity not just the wealth of nature, but also the health of
nature
• 2010: International Year of Biodiversity
• Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and
Ecosystem Services (IPBES): biodiversity loss is as important an issue
for society as climate change.
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23. Biodiversity Loss
• Reduces ecosystems’ abilities to function effectively and efficiently
and thus undermines nature’s ability to support a healthy
environment.
• Changing climate in which loss of biodiversity reduces nature’s
resilience to change.
• People of a lower socioeconomic background who are more directly
dependent on nature than are others, and who will be hit the soonest
and hardest because of their existing vulnerability to climate change
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25. Effect of biodiversity loss on health and
hunger
• Hunger
• Fisheries
• Declines in the diversity of fish species is strongly associated with
lower catches, decreased resilience to exploitation, and higher
incidence of stock collapse.
• Agriculture
• Loss of genetic diversity reduces crop yields. Loss of soil biodiversity makes
soil less resilient and undermines its ability to support wild and cultivated
food plants. Agricultural systems’ capacity to adapt to environmental change
depends on maintaining diversity in cropping systems, crop varieties, and
animal breeds.
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26. Biodiversity and Human Health
• Human health Food Production
• Plant-based traditional medicines: 60% of the world’s population with
lower level of Socioeconomic background.
• Disease Burden:
E.g., Watershed Degradation is correlated with Diarrhoea.
Vector borne diseases: Malaria, Dengue
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27. Effects of Biodiversity Loss
• Biodiversity, Food Production, and Health
• Global food security= biological diversity
• Healthy ecosystems provide humans with food and nutrition from multiple
sources that include highly managed systems such as crops, aquaculture, and
livestock as well as wild sources such as capture fisheries, game and wild
plants
• Biodiversity, Soil Degradation, and Health
• Chemical use and Modern Agriculture= Soil Fertility
• Loss of between 1 and 12 million hectares of agricultural land is occurring
annually
• In many regions, nutrient depletion of soils has led to declines in agricultural
output.
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28. Effects of Biodiversity Loss
• Biodiversity, Agrochemical Inputs, and Health
• Wide use of chemical fertilizers (Nitrogen and Phosphorus) = accumulations of
phosphorus and nitrogen in aquatic ecosystems, with resulting eutrophication,
harmful algal blooms, and fish ‘die-offs’.
• Pesticide use resulting each year in thousands of acute poisoning episodes as
well as reduced male fertility, birth defects , cancers, and respiratory disease.
• Traditional and integrative agricultural systems, which lessen dependence on
agrochemicals, may be expected to decrease incidence of pesticide-related
diseases, while at the same time enhancing soil quality, increasing crop yields,
and reducing farmers’ out-of-pocket costs. An example is seen in the scaling up
of Zero Budget Natural Farming in India (Organic farming in Sikkim).
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29. Effects of Biodiversity Loss
• Biodiversity, Pollination, and Health
• Insect pollination : Essential for 87 of the leading global food crops . Honeybees
alone pollinate over 20,000 plant species ( butterflies, flies, moths, wasps,
beetles, birds, bats, and other animals that contribute further).
• Pollinators are critical for horticulture, orchard, and forage production . Fiber and
root crops rely on pollinators for the production of seed.
• Approximately 80% of all flowering plant species, and more than 75% of global
food crops, including fruits and vegetables and some of the most important cash
crops, such as coffee, cocoa and almonds, rely on animal pollination.
• Reductions are reported in numbers and diversity of both wild and domestic
pollinators . Loss of pollinating insects poses a grave threat to food production
and thus to global food security. Neonicotinoid insecticides are strongly
implicated in pollinator decreases. Reductions in honeybee populations can lead
to increased exposure of food crops to pests and parasites, reduced genetic
diversity and other environmental stressors.
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30. Effects of Biodiversity Loss
• Biodiversity, Pollution Control, and Health
• Healthy ecosystems reduce pollution by absorbing, processing, sequestering,
and detoxifying wastes.
• Vegetation in urban areas:
• Air quality : Mitigating particulate pollutants such as dust, ash, pollen, and smoke as well
as absorbing toxic gases like ozone, sulphur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide .
• Trees and forests removed pollution.
• Natural ecosystems : Balancing temperature extremes in both warm and cold
seasons and in turn reduce pollution emissions from power-generating
facilities.
• Water purification is an ecosystem service provided by forests, wetlands, and
grasslands, which slow the movement of water from source to destination
and thus filter the water. Healthy ecosystems containing diverse microbial
assemblages provide diverse purification services that include detoxifying
pesticides and removing heavy metals.
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31. Effects of Biodiversity Loss
• Ocean Biodiversity and Health
• Global food security is dependent on the health of fisheries. An estimated 3
billion people obtain 20% or more of their protein intake from fish.
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32. Effects of Biodiversity Loss
• Biodiversity and Medicine
• More than 60,000 species of plants,
animals, fungi and microbes :
Medicinal Products
• 4 Million People benefited
• IUCN Nature red list: More than 13%
of the 5,000 currently known
medicinal plants are classified as
under threat Unless urgent action is
taken to protect biological diversity,
more species will be lost, and the
genetic and biological secrets these
organisms hold will be gone forever.
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33. Effects of Biodiversity Loss
• Biodiversity and Disease Control
• Zoonoses: An estimated 60% of emerging infectious diseases are zoonotic in
origin (Ebola, Zika and Nipah encephalitis). Annually around 2.7 million deaths
are attributed to zoonotic infections.
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34. Effects of Biodiversity Loss
• MENTAL HEALTH EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE, POLLUTION, AND
BIODIVERSITY LOSS
• Healthy, non-polluted ecosystems provide multiple benefits to human well-
being and mental health including aesthetic enjoyment of nature, recreation,
spiritual experiences, and physical and mental health benefits.
• Activities such as recreation and ecotourism allow people to immerse in the
natural environment through camping, hiking, and nature study. For many
communities and cultures, nature also holds significant spiritual and religious
value.
• “BIRATNAGAR_ EXAMPLE”
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35. Threats to Biodiversity in Nepal
• Loss and degradation of natural habitats, such as forests, grasslands and wetlands
due to the expansion of settlements
• Unsustainable Agriculture and infrastructure
• Human-Wildlife Conflict
• Over Exploitation
• Environmental pollution
• Poaching and Illegal Wildlife Trade
• Global Warming and Climate Change
• Deforestation and Urbanisation
• Overgrazing by livestock
• Fire, Flood and Landslide
• Invasion by Alien Species etc.
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36. Internation Efforts
CONVENTION ON BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY
• (Ratified by Nepal on 23rd November, 1993)
• (Rio de Janeiro, 5 June 1992)
• Entry into force: 29 December 1993
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild
Fauna and Flora
• (Acceded by Nepal on 18th June, 1975)
• Signed at Washington, D.C., on 3 March 1973, Amended at Bonn, on 22
June 1979
Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as
Waterfowl Habitat, 1971
• (Acceded by Nepal on 17th December, 1987)
Nagoya protocol on access to genetic resources and the
fair and equitable sharing og benefits arising from their
utilization to the conservation on biological diversity.
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37. Internation Efforts
STOCKHOLM CONVENTION ON PERSISTENT ORGANIC
POLLUTANTS
• (Ratified by Nepal on 6th March, 2007)
• Date & Place of Adoption: 22nd May 2001, Stockholm Date of
Entry into Force: 17th May 2004
UNITED NATIONS FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ON
CLIMATE CHANGE (1992)
• (Ratified by Nepal on 2nd June, 1994)
• Opened for signature on 9th May, 1992, Entered into force on
21st March 1994
Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer
(1985)
• (Acceded by Nepal on 6th July, 1994)
• Opened for Signature Vienna, 22nd March 1985, Entered into
Force: 22nd September 1988
The Minamata Convention on Mercury
• Start date: October 10, 2013, Signatories: 128 Effective: 16
August 2017
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38. Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
• Three main objectives:
• Conservation of biological diversity;
• Sustainable use of the components of biological diversity;
• Fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources.
• Special needs of LDCs, among those of other developing countries:
• Preamble: “special provision is required to meet the needs of developing countries,
including the provision of new and additional financial resources and appropriate
access to relevant technologies” and, in this regard, note “the special conditions of
the least developed countries and small island States”.
• Article 20.5: Parties commit to taking “full account of the specific needs and special
situation of least developed countries in their actions with regard to funding and
transfer of technology”.
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39. Conservation and Restoration Approaches
https://www.iucn.org/nature-2030
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40. Biodiversity : Efforts in Nepal
• The right to live in clean environment is secured under
fundamental rights (article 30) of the citizens
• More than 25 Policies.
• Nepal has signed more than 20 international agreements
and obligations, translating many of them into national
policies and acts.
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42. Resources:
• Benton MJ. Origins of Biodiversity. PLoS Biol. 2016 Nov 2;14(11):e2000724. doi:
10.1371/journal.pbio.2000724. PMID: 27806048; PMCID: PMC5091874.
• https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(19)30113-5/fulltext
• Landrigan PJ, Britt M, Fisher S, Holmes A, Kumar M, Mu J, Rizzo I, Sather A, Yousuf A, Kumar P. Assessing
the Human Health Benefits of Climate Mitigation, Pollution Prevention, and Biodiversity Preservation. Ann
Glob Health. 2024 Jan 5;90(1):1. doi: 10.5334/aogh.4161. PMID: 38186855; PMCID: PMC10768568.
• https://sbb.uk.gov.in/files/Publications/PDF%20Files/Leaflet-Print-CTP.pdf
• https://www.mofe.gov.np/
• https://www.iucn.org/
• https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(23)00130-7/abstract
• https://sbb.uk.gov.in/files/Publications/PDF%20Files/Leaflet-Print-CTP.pdf
• https://www.ntnc.org.np/thematic-area/species
• www.who.int
• https://tunza.eco-generation.org/ambassadorReportView.jsp?viewID=46947
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43. Thank you!
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