Biodiversity Hotspots

Biological diversity of biodiversity is the term used to define the extensive variety of life on the earth. It more definitely defines the variety of all life forms from genes to species present in one region or ecosystem. The biodiversity hotspot concept was defined by the British ecologist Norman Meyer’s in 1988 to address the dilemma that conservationists face: what areas are the most immediately important for conserving biodiversity?

Human Development has put a severe crisis on the biodiversity of the planet today. Unsustainable consumption in predominantly northern countries and crushing poverty in the tropics are destroying the ecosystem’s precious biodiversity of the earth. The most serious aspect of this crisis is that it can destroy some species to extinction, which is irreversible. The impact of human atrocities has accelerated the natural process of extinction by an approximately thousand times. The present era of diversity is the sixth mass extinction. So, with insufficient conservation budgets and a large number of critically endangered animals, defining the areas of high biodiversity directed the efforts to priority areas first. Biodiversity hotspots are bio geographic regions characterized both exceptional levels of plant endemism and by serious levels of habitat loss.

According to Conservation International, a region qualifies as a hotspot region if it satisfies the following strict criteria:

1) It must have at least 1500 species of vascular plants (> 0.5 % of the world’s total) as endemics (species found nowhere else). In other words it must have a high percentage of plant life found nobody else on the planet. The Hotspot in other words is irreplaceable.

2) It must have 30% or less of its original natural vegetation left, that is, it must be threatened.

In 1999, 25 biodiversity hotspots were identified. In 2019, the number has increased to 36. Their combined area covers approximately 2.4% of the total land surface. Most of these hotspots are in the tropical region. These biodiversity Hotspots support more than half the world’s plant species and nearly 43% of bird, mammal, reptile and amphibian species and endemic. The Indian Subcontinent has two such biodiversity hotspots namely Himalayas and the Western Ghats.