Measurement of biodiversity was done by Whittaker. Biodiversity can be measured by two major components: Species Richness and Species Evenness
- Species Richness: It refers to the measure of a number of species found in per unit area of a region or community. It has three components:
- Alpha diversity: It refers to the diversity of species found in a particular area or ecosystem, and is usually expressed by the number of species in that ecosystem.
- Beta diversity: It refers to the comparison of the diversity of species between two or more ecosystems, usually measured as the change in the number of species between the ecosystems.
- Gamma diversity: It is the measure of the overall diversity for the different ecosystems in a region. It is highly subjective because of different perceptions about the boundaries of the region.
- Species Evenness: It is the measure of relative abundance of individuals of different species in a given region. Low evenness in general, means that a few species dominate the region or ecosystem.
The Biological Diversity Act, 2002
- The act was enacted in 2002, it aims at the conservation of biological resources, managing its sustainable use and enabling fair and equitable sharing benefits arising out of the use and knowledge of biological resources with the local communities.
Salient Features of the Act
- The Act prohibits the following activities without the prior approval from the National Biodiversity Authority:
- Any person or organisation (either based in India or not) obtaining any biological resource occurring in India for its research or commercial utilisation.
- The transfer of the results of any research relating to any biological resources occurring in, or obtained from, India.
- The claim of any intellectual property rights on any invention based on the research made on the biological resources obtained from India.
- The act envisaged a three-tier structure to regulate the access to biological resources:
- The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA)
- The State Biodiversity Boards (SBBs)
- The Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) (at local level)
- The Act provides these authorities with special funds and a separate budget in order to carry out any research project dealing with the biological natural resources of the country.
- It shall supervise any use of biological resources and the sustainable use of them and shall take control over the financial investments and their return and dispose of those capitals as correct.
- Under this act, the Central Government in consultation with the NBA:
- Shall notify threatened species and prohibit or regulate their collection, rehabilitation and conservation
- Designate institutions as repositories for different categories of biological resources
- The act stipulates all offences under it as cognizable and non-bailable.
- Any grievances related to the determination of benefit sharing or order of the National Biodiversity Authority or a State Biodiversity Board under this Act, shall be taken to the National Green Tribunal (NGT).