Essay Content on significance of biodiversity
Question on Significance of biodiversity
Question on Measures taken by the government for biodiversity conservation
Class 11th and 12th perspective
Practice Question on Biodiversity
Question. Discuss the significance of biodiversity for human survival. What are the various measures taken by
the government for biodiversity conservation and management in India?
Introduction:
The term biodiversity refers to the variety of life on earth at all its levels, from genes to ecosystems, and can
encompass the evolutionary, ecological, and cultural processes that sustain life.
Biodiversity is essential for the processes that support all life on earth, including humans. .
The varied ecosystems across land, rivers, and oceans feed people, enhance public health security, and shield
us from environmental disasters.
Biodiversity also serves as a perpetual source of spiritual enrichment, intimately linked to our physical and
mental well-being.
Significance of biodiversity:
● Ecosystem services: Biodiversity provides enormous ecological services such as the protection o
water resources, soil protection, nutrient storage and cycling and maintenance of ecological
processes.
● Consumptive use value: The biodiversity held in the ecosystem provides forest dwellers with all
their daily needs, food, building material, fodder, medicines and a variety of other products.
● The productive use value of biodiversity: The biotechnologist uses bio-rich areas to ‘prospect’ and
search for potential genetic properties in plants or animals that can be used to develop better crop
varieties used in farming or to develop better livestock. For industrialists, biodiversity is a rich
storehouse from which they can develop new products.
● Social value: To a great extent, biodiversity has been preserved by traditional societies that valued
it as a resource and appreciated that its depletion would be a great loss to their society.
‘Ecosystem people’ value biodiversity as a part of their livelihood as well as through cultural and
religious sentiments. E.g.: A great variety of crops have been cultivated in traditional agricultural
systems and this permitted a wide range of products to be grown and marketed throughout the
year and acted as insurance against the failure of one crop.