Biodiversity and India

From tiny living things you need a microscope to see, to giant trees; from the snowy Himalayas to the coral reefs of the Andaman Sea: the huge variety of life on Earth is called biodiversity.

Every living thing has a job in nature:

• tiny algae in the oceans give out most of the oxygen we breathe;
• fungi and bacteria break down waste and make soil fertile;
• birds, bees and bats pollinate flowers;
• plants make food for nearly all life.

Why farmers keep many kinds of crops. Some varieties survive drought, some resist pests, some grow in poor soil. If a farmer grows many kinds, one bad year is less likely to destroy everything. Diversity protects our food supply.

Endemic species are found naturally in only one region. These are found only in India:

• the Nilgiri tahr (a mountain goat);
• the lion-tailed macaque (a monkey);
• the pitcher plant *Nepenthes khasiana*;
• *Neelakurinji*, a shrub that covers hills in blue flowers about once in 12 years.

A biodiversity hotspot is a place with many endemic species that has also lost a lot of its natural habitat. India has parts of four:

• the Western Ghats;
• Indo-Burma (including North East India);
• the Himalayas;
• Sundaland (including the Nicobar Islands).

Today's variety arose slowly, as small differences built up over many generations. Indian traditions helped protect it: the Sangam Tinai way of dividing land into landscape types, and sacred groves where forests were left untouched.