Current concern about biodiversity in the North-East Region
The current concern is with regard to the large number of endangered species in the region. The pressure of deforestation, jhum cultivation, mining, forest fires, soil erosion, encroachment, urbanization, degradation of water bodies are some reasons which have led to the loss of habitat, and hence dwindling of the population of many species, bringing them under the endangered category,
Disappearance of endemic species is a matter of serious concern. Since such species of plants and animals are unique to the region, their disappearance could eventually lead to their total extinction. A region qualifies as a global hotspot if it has at least 0.5 percent endemism. In case of the Indo Burma hotspot of which the North East is a part, the endemism is 25 percent. Hence the serious concern about preserving the biodiversity of the region.
Conservation:-The immense biodiversity of the Northeasten Region has made it a priority area for investment by the leading conservation agencies of the world. World wildlife foundation has identified the entire eastern Himalaya as a priority Global 200 Ecoregion; India was categorized earlier on as one of the twelve mega diversity countries in the world. Subsequently the eastern Himalayan region covering Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Darjeeling and parts of Nepal was identified as a biodiversity hotspot. These are regions that have high biological diversity, high endemism but are under severe anthropogenic threat. In 2000, this region was brought under the larger Indo-Burma hotspot which is the world’s second largest biodiversity hotspot after the Mediterranean Basin.
Recognizing the region as a global biodiversity hotspot means concerted efforts in the region by conservation agencies. There global and five national priority setting exercised have been carried out to identify key sites and species that are unique or important socially, culturally and environmentally. Priority areas, corridors etc have been identified for conservation purposes. The Assam plains and eastern Himalayas have been identified as Endemic Bird Areas; in addition 59 Important Bird Areas have been identified for conservation of endangered species of birds. WWF has identified the following Priority Ecoregions-Brahmaputra Valley Semievergreen Forests, Eastern Himalaya broadleaved forests, Eastern Himalaya subalpine coniferous forest and India-Myanmar pine forests. A priority ecoregion is a relatively large area of land or water that contains a geographically distinct set of natural communities that share a majority of their species, ecological dynamics and environment conditions and function together as a conservation unit at global and regional scales. Since ecoregions as usually large areas, smaller critical landscapes are identified within ecoregions for focused conservation purposes. The WWF has identified the following critical landscapes-the western Arunachal landscape in Arunachal Pradesh, the Khangchendzonga landscape in Sikkim and Darjeeling the north bank landscape and the Kaziranga-Karbi Anglong landscapes in Assam.
On the national level there have been projects like Planning a Protected Area Network for designing scientifically robust and viable network of protected areas; Biodiversity Conservation Prioritization Project that attempted to identify priority sites and species on the basis of their biological and socioeconomic values and to develop strategies for their conservation at a national scale; the state biodiversity conservation strategy and action plants etc.
The Botanical Survey of India published the Indian Red Data Books on plants to highlight the rare, endangered, and threatened species. The Tropical Botanical Garden Research Institute’s publication on the endemic plants hotspots of India, Bhutan, and Nepal provides an account of endemic plants in the Sikkimand Arunachal Pradesh Himalayas the Naga and Manipur Hills, the Lushai-Mizo Hills, and the Khasi-Jaintia Hills. The Foundation for Revitalization of local Health Traditions, Bangalore used a conservation assessment and management prioritization study to develop tax on data sheets for the medicinal plants of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, and Sikkim. Fifty-one plant species were assessed, of which 47 were found to be threatened in one or more states. Of these, six were globally threatened. Assam and one, Meghalaya had two, Sikkim had two, and one was common to all the states. WWF-India, in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institute of the United States, made an assessment of the floral richness of the Pakhui Wildlife Sanctuary and Nameri National Park, Biodiversity richness was found to be comparable with many other regions of the globe.
