Importance of wild life in the ecosystem

1. Dr. Nirbhay Sudhir Pimple
Wildlife Conservation

2. Meaning of wildlife conservation
• Wildlife: According to the Wildlife Protection
Act of 1972, wildlife includes any animal,
bees, butterfly, crustacean, fish and moth;
and aquatic or land vegetation, which form
part of any habitat.
Example: lion, deer, crocodiles, whales, trees and
shrubs in dense forests etc.
Therefore, wildlife refers to living organisms (flora and fauna) in
their natural habitats.
 But cultivated plants and domesticated animals are not
included in wildlife!

3. Benefits of Wildlife
Wildlife is an essential component of
various food chains, food webs,
biogeochemical cycles and energy
flow through various trophic levels.
• Preserves vitality and health of
environment and provides stability to
various ecosystems

4. Did y o u kno w? ?
Wildlife is a symbol of national pride and cultural heritage.
Over 100 years ago, there were over 1 lakh tigers across
Asia whereas today this number is below 5000 worldwide.
Wildlife is renewable source of a large variety of
commercial products like food, leathers, honey, herbal
medicines, timber etc.
Scientists and medical researchers use wildlife animals as
research materials on which trial experiments are
performed before there actual application to human beings
( Eg. Xenotransplantation).
Project Tiger and Gir Lion Project have been launched by
the government of India to protect the tiger and lion
population in country.

5. Threats to wildlife
1. Habitat loss :
 Population growth, fast industrialisation , urbanisation and
modernisation have all contributed to a large-scale destruction of
natural habitat of plants and animals.
2. Pollution:
 Air, water, soil and noise pollution of the magnitude and toxicity never
seen before is the major factor.
 Natural habitats have been destroyed or damaged by activities such as
the indiscriminate use of synthetic materials, release of radiations and
oil spills in the sea, generation of effluents and wastes of various kinds
and toxicity, and their unscientific disposal.
Wildlife everywhere on the earth is under threat of
extinction and struggling hard for survival.
3. Indiscriminate hunting:
 Indiscriminate killing and poaching of wild animals for food,
horn, fur, tusk etc. has resulted in reduction and even extinction
of many wild species.

6. 4. Introduction of exotic species:
 Many native species have known to
disappear and their existence is under
threat because of the introduction of
exotic and alien species.

7. National parks
• A national park is protected area of land in which a typical
ecosystem with all its wild plants and animals are protected
and preserved in natural surroundings.
As of April 2012, there were 102 national parks.
Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand, established in 1936,
was the first national park in India.
All national park lands then encompassed a total 39,919 km2,
comprising 1.21% of India's total surface area
A total of 166 national parks have been authorized.
Over 17 national parks and sanctuaries have been selected for
Project Tiger to protect and increase tiger population in
India.

8. NAME STATE IN WHICH LOCATED ANIMAL(S) PROTECTED
Jim Corbett National Park Uttarakhand Tiger (EN)
Kaziranga National Park Assam Rhinoceros (CR)
Hazaribagh National Park Jharkhand Tiger (EN)
Kanha National Park MP Tiger (EN)
Cheetah (VU)
Sundarbans Tiger Reserve West Bengal Bengal Tiger (EN)
Gir National Park Gujarat Asiatic lion (EN)
Bandipur National Park Karnataka Elephant (VU)
Tiger (EN)
Desert National Park Rajasthan Great Indian Bustard (CR)
Black buck (NT)
EX = Extinct
EW = extinct in the wild
CR = critically endangered
EN = endangered
VU = vulnerable
NT = near threatened
Conservation status
IMPORTANT NATIONAL PARKS OF INDIA

9. Wildlife Sanctuary
• A sanctuary is a protected are of land, wetland or
sea reserved for the conservation of wild animals,
birds and plants.
India has over 492 wildlife sanctuaries.
These cover over 3% of India’s total geographical
area.
Hunting of any kind is prohibited in sanctuaries.
Private ownership rights over sanctuaries and
limited human activities may be granted provided
they do not interfere with the normal
activities(feeding, nesting, breeding of wildlife

10. NAME STATE IN WHICH LOCATED ANIMAL/BIRD PROTECTED
Keoladeo Ghana Bird
Sanctuary
Rajasthan
(Bharatpur)
Siberian crane, famous for
birds
Chilika Lake Bird Sanctuary Odisha Water fowls
Cranes
Ducks
Manas Wildlife Sanctuary Assam Panther
Tiger
Rhinoceros
Dachigam Sanctuary J&K Kashmiri stag
Musk snow leopard
Madhumalai Wildlife
Sanctuary
Tamil Nadu
(Nilgiri hills)
Elephant
Four-horned antelope
Nagarjunasagar Sanctuary AP Tiger
Panther
Periyar Sanctuary Kerala Elephant
Balmiki Nagar Tiger Reserve Bihar Tiger
Important national sanctuaries of India

11. • Biosphere reserves are a specific category of protected
area of land and/or coastal area wherein tribal people
native to the area are an integral part of the system.
• The concept of Biosphere Reserve was conceived by the
UN and was launched in 1975 as a part of UNESCO’s
“Man and Biosphere” Programme.
• In bioreserves various uses of land are permitted by
dividing it into 3 distinct zones viz, Core Zone, Buffer
Zone and Transition Zone.
• The government of India has established 18 biosphere
reserves.
There are approximately 610 biosphere reserves located in 117
countries of the world.
There are 18 biosphere reserves zones in India.
Nine of the Eighteen biosphere reserves are a part of the World
Network of Biosphere Reserves, based on the UNESCO Man and
the Biosphere (MAB) Programme list
Biosphere reserves

12. NAME STATE IN WHICH LOCATED ANIMAL(S) PROTECTED
Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve Tamil Nadu
Kerala
Karnataka
Nilgiri Tahr
Lion-tailed macaque
Gulf of Mannar Biosphere
Reserve
Tamil Nadu Dugong
Sea Cow
Sundarbans National Park West Bengal Royal Bengal Tiger
Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve Uttarakhand
Nokrek Biosphere Reserve Meghalaya Red Panda
Panchmarhi Biosphere
Reserve
Madhya Pradesh Giant Squirrel
Flying Squirrel
Simlipal Biosphere Reserve Odisha Royal Bengal Tiger
Wild Elephant
Gaur
Achanakmar- Amarkantak
Biosphere Reserve
Chhattisgarh
Madhya Pradesh
Wide range of flora and fauna
Nicobar Islands Andaman & Nicobar Islands Saltwater Crocodile
9 of the 18 Biosphere Reserves which are part of the
World Network of Biosphere Reserves

13. Conservation measures
The conservation strategies should include the
following programmes and policies:
Protection of threatened/useful plants and animals species
living in natural habitats, zoological and botanical gardens,
seed gene, tissue culture and DNA banks.
Preservation of critical habitats of animal and plant species
plus the management of life supporting systems in the
surrounding habitats.
Hunting and international trade in wild animals and plants
products should be regulated and a strict vigil should be
maintained upon these actions.
Role of government and NGOs in spreading awareness
programmes among common people about values of wildlife
and it’s conservation.

14. IUCN(International Union for Conservation of
Nature and Natural Resources)
• The International Union for Conservation of
Nature (IUCN, Union internationale pour la conservation de la
nature [UICN], in French) is an international
organisation dedicated to finding "pragmatic solutions to our
most pressing environment and development challenges".
• The organization publishes the IUCN Red List of Threatened
Species, which assesses the conservation status of species.
• It works for the enlistment and preservation of endangered
species of plants and animals.
Now known as the World Conservation Union, it aims to impart
information about the distribution and status of threatened
species, develop awareness about the importance of threatened
biodiversity and guide their conservation programmes and
actions.

15. “ Protected areas and threatened species could most effectively be safeguarded
if local people considered it in their own interest to do so.
Working with rather than against local people became a major working
principle for IUCN. ”
The IUCN programme
for 2013-2016.
“ IUCN's stated vision is "a just
world that values and conserves
nature". Its mission is to
"influence, encourage and assist
societies throughout the world to
conserve nature and to ensure that
any use of natural resources is
equitable and ecologically
sustainable ”

16. The union has identified and documented
endangered species of plants and animals and has
placed them into eight “Red list” categories. The red list
categories can be regrouped into four main categories
as follows:
• EXTINCT SPECIES
• ENDANGERD SPECIES
• VULNERNABLE SPECIES
• RARE SPECIES

17. Other measures taken for Wildlife
conservation
Breeding programmes for endangered
species
Prevention of poaching, hunting and
biopiracy

18. Enforcement of legal provisions
Some important legal provisions related to
wildlife protection and conservation:
Forest conservation act, 1980
National forest policy, 1988
Wildlife protection act, 1972
( amended 1991, 2002 )

19. Forest conservation act, 1980
• India is one among a few countries in the world
which has a Forest Act since 1927.
• The act was reformulated in 1980 and later
amended in 1988.
The Act empowered the government and the forest
department
oTo create and manage reserved forests, protected forests and village
forests.
oTo protect non-governmental forests and forest land.
oTo control movement of forest produce.
oTo control and regulate cattle grazing.

20. • In the year 1952, India formulated her first forest
policy which laid more emphasis on revenue
generation than on sustainability of forests and
their natural functions.
• The new forest policy emphasises conservation of
forests as a natural heritage and ensures
environmental stability and maintenance of
ecological balance including atmospheric
equilibrium which is so vital for life and growth of
all life forms including wildlife.
National forest policy, 1988

21. Wildlife protection act, 1972(Amended 1991, 2002)
The act was passed by the Parliament of India to protect India’s wildlife.
Before 1972,India only had five designated national parks. Among other
reforms, the Act established schedules of protected plant and animal
species; hunting or harvesting these species was largely outlawed.
The main objective of the Act are as follows:
 Prohibition on hunting of specified plants and/or animals.
 Setting up and management of national parks and wildlife sanctuaries.
 Control of trade and commerce in wildlife, and wildlife products.
 Setting up of wildlife advisory board from state level to block and
panchayat levels and empowering zoo authorities with control and
management of zoos and for captive breeding.
 The amendment to this Act in 2002 brought in the concept of Community
Reserves and made the provision of the Act more stringent by altering
several definitions in the previous Act.

22. International rules and laws
Many nations have reached bilateral/multilateral
agreements and have framed rules and regulations
for protection and conservation of wildlife.
Some of these are:
 AFRICAN CONVENTION ON THE CONSERVATION OF NATURAL
RESOURCES,1968.
 CONVENTION OF WETLANDS OF INTERNATIONAL IMPORTANCE
(RAMSARCONVENTION),1971
 CONSERVATION AND PROTECTION OF THE WORLD CULTURE AND
NATIONALHERITAGEACT,1972

23. THANK YOU