Tag: biodiversity loss and need for conservation

Eichhornia crassipes, commonly known as water hyacinth, is an aquatic plant native to the Amazon basin. It is often considered a highly problematic invasive species outside its native range. When not controlled, water hyacinth will cover lakes and ponds entirely; this dramatically impacts water flow, blocks sunlight from reaching native aquatic plants, and starves the water of oxygen, often killing fish and other aquatic animals. Hence option B is correct.

'The National Environmental Engineering Research Institute' (NEERI), Nagpur was established in 1958 as 'Central Public Health Engineering', when environmental concerns were limited to human health. Shrimati Indira Gandhi, gave new name to the Institute as 'National Environmental Engineering Research Institute' in the year 1974.

Bamboo is commonly called as the poor man's timber because it is used in all aspects of life. Bamboo is also an icon of versatility. It forms part of the paper we use every day and of the houses we build. By virtue of its unique properties like quick growth, tensile strength, availability and renewability, it has the epithet of 'poor man's timber'.

From 3 - 14 June 1992, Rio de Janeiro in Brazil hosted the 'United Nations Conference on Environment and Development' (UNCED). The focus of this conference was the state of the global environment and the relationship between economics, science and the environment in a political context. The conference concluded with the 'Earth Summit', at which leaders of 105 nations gathered to demonstrate their commitment to sustainable development. 

In order to arouse a general awakening in the common man in favour of protection of wildlife, the 'Indian Board of Wild Life' (IBWL) decided to observe the 'Wildlife Week' and since then from October 2 - 8 every year organize different activities related to wildlife conservattion to commemorate this week. 

Human activities like deforestation, pollution, global warming etc is  a major threat to the natural resources.The scarcity of water is  a common problem nowadays which needs serious attempts.Rainwater harvesting is the method of conservation of rainwater by reusing the stored water for several domestic purposes. The rainwater is collected from various hard surfaces such as rooftops and or other man-made above ground hard surfaces.

A number of world's ecosystems have undergone significant degradation leading to a negative impact on the biodiversity and livelihood. One such ecosystem that has depleted over the years is the mined habitats. Since the mineral rich areas are also rich in forest resources. However continuous mining activities tend to change the ecological equilibrium. Restoration of the ecological equilibrium of the mined areas can be achieved by understanding the ecology, plant succession and soil types of the place and revegetation of the spoils .

'Amrita Devi Bishnoi Wild Life Protection Award' is given for significant contribution in the field of wildlife protection, which is recognised as having having done exemplary work for the protection of wildlife. A cash award of rupees one lakh is presented to individuals / institutions involved in wildlife protection.

Loss of biodiversity includes decline in plant production, lowered resistance to environmental perturbations and increased variability in processes of ecosystem.

Decrease or loss of biodiversity can be brought by pollution in environment and habitat, forest fires and loss of habitat and overgrazing. While afforestation or planting of forest trees cause conservation of natural habitat thus saving the biodiversity.