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| AERF Celebrates International Year of Biodiversity |
As we celebrates International Year of Biodiversity, every month, we will put up some interesting information on this page about various native, endemic, rare or threatened species from our study area that are critical for biodiversity conservation. So keep visiting our website to contribute to this awareness campaign. |
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| Species of the month: Antiaris toxicaria |
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The species – Antiaris toxicaria belongs to the family Moraceae. Antiaris toxicaria is distributed throughout the Western Ghats of India as well as some parts of south-east Asia including Java where it is known as the Upas tree. This is a tall evergreen tree species tall with a straight trunk, often buttressed and its crown jutting distinctly out of the forest canopy. Flowering begins during November and December and soon the tree bears fruits in January. Fruits are a reddish drupe, velvety to touch. Upas tree has at times caught people’s imagination and been referred to in literary texts and poems. To illustrate, here is an example:
“The Upas tree had reared its head,/And sent its baneful scions all around/ Blasting, where’er its effluent force was she/ In air and wind/All things wherein the breath and sap of life is found” –Southe (Extract from “ The Flowering Plants of India” Education Society Press. Bombay) .
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Local people in the Konkan region are unaware of the poisonous latex of the Antiaris. Being naturally restricted to patches of moist deciduous to semi-evergreen forests in Konkan, people here are generally unaware of the species.
Locally known as Chand-phal (Chand: moon, phal: fruit) or Daswan, there have been a few reports of the use of seeds to treat diabetes. Although the use of the seeds for medicinal purposes has not been confirmed by any scientific investigation, a minor trade of the seeds is gradually flourishing in certain pockets of the Konkan region. In Konkan, Antiaris toxicaria is almost exclusively found in sacred groves. Even within these protected forests, populations are usually small and regeneration of the species is slow. This is an under-studied species of the region and understanding of its distribution and phenology is absent in published literature.
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| AERF’s contribution to Target 2010 |
AERF in spirit has always worked towards pragmatic approaches for Biodiversity Conservation. We at AERF realize that India is hosts a significantly large number of biodiversity rich ecosystems with unimaginable numbers of rare and endemic plants, animals and human communities. All these components are increasingly going extinct but which must be protected and conserved- Now. AERF is making a sustained effort to lead the local communities in its mission of conserving Biodiversity in the Northern Western Ghats and the Western Himalayas. |
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| Sacred Groves : Controlling Habitat fragmentation in Sacred Groves |
Sacred Groves are forest patches traditionally protected by communities in reverence of a deity. Once a safe haven for biodiversity to flourish, these forests are now facing the brunt of mass deforestation and habitat fragmentation. This has directly thumped upon some of the very crucial ecological processes such as mutualism between the rare, endemic, old growth fruit trees and their seed dispersers (such as Hornbills ). AERF has successfully mobilized local communities for its exhaustive campaigns for two species of hornbill: Great Pied Hornbill (Buceros bicornis) and Malabar Pied Hornbill (Anthracoceros coronatus). In depth research on hornbill behaviour and feeding ecology is being carried out in the disturbed forest habitats of northern Western Ghats.
These efforts have significantly emphasized the specific role these two charismatic birds play in habitat restoration. Through this conservation project, the Hornbills are being promoted as flagship species to promote conservation of some important rare and endemic tree species such as Antiaris toxicaria,Hydnocarpus pentandra, Saraca asoca, Strychnos nux-vomica, calophyllum inophyllum. To restore the degraded forest patches AERF raised and planted about 10,000 saplings of native tree species. AERF is also working with private forest owners to bring about Conservation Agreements. AERF is proud to state that till date about 45 ha of forests has been brought under protection for the next ten years. |
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“Biological diversity” means the variability among living organisms from all sources including, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are a part; this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems.’ (The convention on Biological Diversity; Johnson, 1993)
To put is simply, biological diversity is the variety and variability among living organisms and the ecological complexes in which they occur. |
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Scientists estimate that the total number of species could be anywhere between 13 million to 100 million in number. An unknown number of these valuable but still undiscovered species might be spiralling down to extinction every day. All these species together constitute a massive gene pool that could help human beings find solutions to most of their complicated problems. Therefore it is of utmost importance to bring down the rate of extinction and conserve what is left of Biodiversity. |
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A whole web of reasons is known to pose a threat to Biodiversity. Yet the biggest and the most prominent of these is Habitat Fragmentation caused by the exhaustive, unregulated, nsustainable economic development. Across the world, the prime forests are being cut open for mining and timber extraction. Habitats are being fragmented and the species being forced out of their habitats. This is especially true to the third world countries of the tropics that still have left with them a good old growth rainforests. |
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Biodiversity provides a large number of goods and Ecological Services that sustain our lives. Apart from the use value of Biodiversity, we as a species have an ethical and historical responsibility to conserve other living creatures that cohabit the world along with us. We must collectively understand that it is the combination of life forms and their interactions with each other and with the rest of the environment that has made Earth a uniquely habitable place for humans. |
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Year 2010 has been marked as the international year of biodiversity by CBD and its partner for the programme IUCN. In April 2002, a decision was taken by the parties to the Convention that by year 2010 they would significantly reduce the rate of Biodiversity loss at the global, regional and national level as a contribution to poverty alleviation and to the benefit of all life on Earth. This was certified by the World Summit on Sustainable Development and the United Nations General Assembly and was integrated under the Millennium Development Goals as a new target. |
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