CHANDIGARH BUSINESS SCHOOL

GHARUAN, MOHALI

PROJECT FILE OF INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

Submitted To: MR. Rajiv khosla HOD CGC, Gharuan

Submitted By: Richa sachdeva MBA 1st [F]

What is Biodiversity :Biodiversity is the variety of species, their genetic make-up, and the natural communities in which they occur. It includes all of the native plants and animals in Pennsylvania and the processes that sustain life on Earth. Pennsylvania is home to over 25,000 different species of organisms, and of this total, over 800 are considered to be rare, threatened, or endangered. For many groups of organisms, such as insects, fungi, and algae, very little is known about them - not even what species occur in Pennsylvania! The need to understand the state's rich natural resources has never been more critical. The term ecosystem is defined as a

community of living organisms combined with their associated physical environment. It is our "home system" that makes life possible. Ecosystems are the full tapestry of nature that support life and they also provide valuable services. Wetland ecosystems filter out toxins, clean the water, and control floods. Estuaries act as marine-life nurseries. Forest ecosystems supply fresh water, provide oxygen, control erosion, and remove carbon from the atmosphere. Many species, working together, are needed to provide these critical services. The loss of biodiversity reduces nature's ability to perform these functions. As greater fluctuations occur, ecosystems as a whole become less stable. Instability causes ecosystems to be more vulnerable to extreme conditions and may also decrease productivity.

Biodiversity:-

From a biodiversity viewpont forest are also extremely valuable. The tropical rainforest is the biome with the largest biodiversity of all biomes. Many impressive species live in forests, like the great apes. However, ecosystems in general have very much changed in the past 50 years, more than in any other period of human history. That also applies to forest ecosystems. This has resulted in big en often irreversible loss of diversity of life on earth. In the past centuries 1000 times more species were extinct than on average in the period before. And at this moment 10 to 30 % of mammal, bird and amphibian species are threatened with extinction. It is of importance to conserve biodiversity, because it has all kinds of regulating, supportive, cultural and provisional functions. Interventions are required to stop deforestation, forest fragmentation, forest degradation but also climate change.

Why is Biodiversity Important:-

While the term "biodiversity" may not be well known or understood, the ecological services provided by biodiversity are vital to everyday life. Not a day, hour, or even second goes by that we do not depend on biodiversity for survival. The air we breathe is a product of photosynthesis by green plants. Insects, worms, bacteria,and other tiny organisms break down wastes and aid in

the decomposition of dead plants and animals to enrich soils. More than 90 percent of the calories consumed by people worldwide are produced from 80 plant species. Almost 30 percent of medicines are developed from plants and animals, and many more are derived from these sources.

The role of forests biodiversity:Forest ecosystems deliver a vast array of products and services to the society. Perhaps the most famous product from the forest is wood, which also has a enormous diversity of applications and purposes, such as construction purposes, furniture and fuel. But apart from that there is a large number of non-timber forest products, like medicinal plants, honey, fruits and bushmeat. The availability, the use and the importance of these products varies per region and per culture. Especially in developing countries many people are dependant upon these products. In many cases they form an important part of the diet, like proteins from animal products. Most often the poorest and vulnerable part of society depend very much on the forest. This group can also revert to the forest resources in periods when their conditions get worse the forest is then functioning as a safety net.

Ecosystem Services:Apart from concrete products, forests also deliver all kind of Ecosystem Services. Forests play an important role in the global and local water cycle. The specific role very much depends on the local circumstances and conditions and also on the

forest type itself. Positive effects of forest are attracting rain water, purification of water and regulation of water flows. In areas with relief trees protect the soil against erosion. Forests also influence local climate. Dependant on the latitude forest influences the temperature in a region: in the tropics forest have a net cooling effect through evapotranspiration while at higher altitudes, mainly boreal forests, there is a net warming effect because the relative dark colour of the canopies absorbs warmth from the sun (albedo effect). On a global level forests stabilize climate by regulating energy and water cycles. Rainwater that is generated by the Amazon tropical forest enables the beef and soya production as well as the biofuel industry in Brazil, which are of great importance for the economy. And the deforestation in Southeast Asia can have consequences for the rainfall patterns in Southern Europe and the Northwest coastal area of the United States.

Cultural aspects:-

Forests do also have a cultural, religious and spiritual significance, like sacred forests, that are often untouched or protected. In Ethiopia, a country with a very high deforestation rate, the few remaining forests are located near old churches. Specific locations in the forest can also be used for rituals like circumcision or initiation.

Ownership:-

The services of the forest are public goods: not only the landowner benefits but also its neighbours and e.g. the people that live downstream a forested area. When it comes to CO2 storage or to unique biodiversity, the world population as a whole benefits. Forest owners usually do not get paid for the services, which leads to biased decisions on land-use. The landowners will choose for the most profitable type of land-use and if external costs and benefits are not included, it is likely that forests are converted to arable land, pasture or plantations. By offering the landowner a prize for the public goods, they can make a fair and sustainable choice. One option that of selling the stored or sequestered carbon from the forest through carbon credits.

FOREST PRODUCTS:Fruits and Vegetables (purchased at the local grocery store )

grapefruit

SPICES AND FLAVORS

OTHER FOOD PRODUCTS

(beans and ground)

HOUSEHOLD PRODUCTS

-nest-fern

GUMS AND RESINS (balloons, erasers, balls, rubber bands, gloves, tires)

MEDICINES

The following items may have originated in other types of topical habitats near rain forests: potato, tomato, yam, corn, peanuts, rice, sesame seeds, sugar, teak. Forests are increasingly managed for a variety of uses and values, often in combination. Earlier assessments emphasized wood for timber, but the concept of forest production has now grown to include other types of forest products. Forests and trees outside forests provide many different products, ranging from timber and fuelwood to food (berries, mushrooms etc.), fodder, and other non-wood forest products. An underlying objective of forest management is maintaining an ample and valuable supply of forest products while at the same time ensuring that production and harvesting are sustainable and do not compromise the management options of future generations. Non-wood products provided by forests include food such as berries, mushrooms, edible plants, game and bushmeat fodder, and medicinal plants. These products perform a crucial role in meeting the subsistence needs of a large part of the worlds population living in or near forests and providing them with income-generating opportunities. Non-wood forest products are collected for local household use or trade, though some find export markets. Understanding their potential contribution to sustainable rural development, reducing poverty and food security, requires good statistical data. Problems linked to sporadic and unreliable data are compounded by the lack of a uniform classification system and limited institutional resources. Even where national statistics exist, all removals are not always recorded, so the figures reported are in many cases considered underestimates. Asia and Europe show the greatest

availability of information. In fact, Asia has traditionally used non-wood forest products and often includes them in official national accounts and international trade statistics, which is not generally the case in other regions. Asia accounts for the largest removals of non-wood forest products. With a share of 74%, China reports by far the worlds largest removals of forest plant products for food, consisting mainly of oil seeds, nuts and bamboo shoots. Other countries with significant removal volumes for food are India, the Republic of Korea, and Pakistan in Asia; the Czech Republic, Finland, Italy, and Sweden in Europe; and Brazil in South America. China also accounts for 72% of removals in the category of exudates, such as tannin extract and raw lacquer. India accounts for half of reported removals of plant raw materials for medicinal and aromatic uses. India also has a 42% share of total removals of other plant products, such as tendu leaves and lac, followed by Brazil and Mexico. Fodder removals were reported by only 16 countries, which however reported very large quantities, showing that this is a very important product category. Ornamental plants like Christmas trees were reported in large quantities in European countries

Uses of forests :People began life on this planet as forest dwellers. They were food gatherers and depended on the forest for all their needs: food, clothing, and shelter. They gradually became food growers, clearing a small patch in the forest to grow food. But they continued to depend on forests to meet a lot of their needs. Even today people depend on the forest for paper, timber, fuelwood, medicine, and fodder.

Fuelwood Fencing Wind breaks and shelter belts

Fodder Soil erosion check Soil improvement

Fuelwood For the rural population, wood is an important source of energy for cooking and heating. They prefer smaller stems as these are easier to collect and carry. The wood that they select should be easy to split and have low moisture content to dry faster. Some of the wood is converted to charcoal and used for cooking.

Fodder Fodder from the forest forms an important source for cattle and other grazing animals in the hilly and the arid regions and during a drought. There are many varieties of grasses, trees, and shrubs that are nutritious for the livestock. Care is taken to see that trees poisonous to cattle are not grown. Trees that produce a large crown above the reach of cattle are preferred.

Fencing Fences created with trees and shrubs are preferred in developing countries as they are cheap to maintain yet give protection. Species that have thorns or are prickly and have stiff branches and leaves that are not edible are preferred. These species should be fast growing, hardy, and long lived.

Wind breaks and shelterbelts Trees grown for wind breaks should be bushy and sturdy to withstand strong winds, both hot and cold. Along the Saurashtra coast in India, casuarina has successfully been planted to check degradation due to salt laden coastal winds. A species of prosopis, called P. juliflora, planted along the desert border in Haryana and Gujarat has successfully halted the advance of the desert.

Soil erosion check Tree roots bind the soil and prevent erosion caused by wind or water. Leaf fall also provides a soil cover that further protects the soil. Casuarina planted along the coastal region has helped in binding the sand and stabilizing the sand dunes in the area.

Soil improvement Some species of trees have the ability to return nitrogen to the soil through root decomposition or fallen leaves. Such trees are planted to increase the nitrogen content of the soil.

Strategies for biodiversity conservation 1. Fixing the centers with responsibility in the trans-himalayan region for undertaking the work related to biodiversity of plants.

2. Survey (folklore/contacts with local/religious leaders/ tribes on the spot visits and consultations of literature) of the PGR available at present, endangered and extinct species. The use of NGO's and use of PRA technique may be useful. 3. Collection, identification and documentation of fodder/ pasture and other associated species in the ecosystem. 4. Study the impact of nomadic graziers/pastoral communities on vegetation; and also their traditional grazing management. 5. Study traditional farming/cropping system, traditional agroforestry, village gardening, etc. 6. Study utilization pattern of land races, primitive cultivars of cultivated/domesticated plants. 7. Study impact of myths, totems and taboos observed by rural people and tribals with respect to conservation. 8. Eco-geographical survey of gene pool of crops and related species. 9. Investigate techno-economic capabilities of inhabitants on biodiversity conservation. 10. Fund requirement and availability.

People's participation in biodiversity conservation

People's participation is very important to integrate ecosystem conservation and rural development as it is necessary to know the needs for they depend on a particular ecosystem (Khoshoo, 1993). The indigenous people are the integral part of the ecosystem. They are not only familiar with several plant/animal species in their ecosystem but also| understand the ecological interrelationship of the various components of their resource! base better than most modern foresters, biologists, agronomists and ecologists. With constant association with the surrounding vegetation, they learnt to utilize many plan' species for their day to day needs. Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) technique may play an important role in planning the biodiversity conservation through people's participation. It may help to acquire past and present available resources in the region, their problems and priorities. It will also help to collect and document traditional wisdom about surrounding vegetation, local flora, exotic flora, fauna, etc. The PRA exercise will also assess the feasibility of conserving traditional varieties, primitive land races, wild relatives of crop plant in situ along with the traditional farming system which sustains it.

Biodiversity in market terms

Today bamboo, rattan, and reeds are important sources of income for villagers and are important cottage industries in the region. Of the 151 species of rattans, 104 are found in P. Malaysia and Borneo (Jacobs 1982). Thousands of villagers are

involved in their collection and processing. The export of rattan is worth $1,500 million per year from the region (Caldecott 1988a). In fact, exports of non-timber products can be shown to be increasing in value all the time. For example, in Indonesia non-timber exports comprised only 2.9% compared to timber exports in 1973, but the value reached 11% in 1983. Valuable resins are produced by some 20 species of dipterocarps. In Lampung, southern Sumatra, villagers tap cultivated stands of Shorea javanica for damar, which is used as a varnish for fine art. Some of the tappers earn as much as US$1,000 per ha each year from tapping damar (Goldstein 1989). If the trees were harvested for timber, one cannot make more than four times the value of damar. Timber is a one-off affair. The resin from Agathis spp., known as copal, is used in the manufacture of paints and varnish. Annually about US$400,000 worth of copal is exported from the Philippines (Burgess 1991). Before the advent of modern medicine, plants were a vital source of drugs and medicines for people in Asia. This tradition is still alive. In China and India, above 75% of the inhabitants rely on herbal remedies. For such cures, some 6,500 plants have been used in Asia, most of which are collected from the wild. In the tropical forests of Xishuangbanna, China, over 300 plant species are collected for medicinal value, another 200 are edible, over 100 are timber species, and another 100 are oil producers (Li & Zhao 1989, as in MacKinnon & Collins 1991). This represents nearly 20% of the higher plants in the forest, an incredibly high usage of the biodiversity. In monetary terms, their value in the Asian region could be billions of dollars.

Biodiversity a matter of impact and value

In fact the rural folks in many parts of Asia are entirely dependant on the varied products for their existence. If this is indeed the case, why are tropical forests disappearing fast? This is a question of value. New generations who have lost contact with the forest make all the judgements on its future landuse. They introduce more exploitative technologies like the chainsaw and shotgun for marketable products like timber, rattan and bushmeat. Traditonal uses that are predominantly valued by cashless societies are ignored. The wealth of goods from tropical forests plummet in value, and forests lose their importance. There has been an undue emphasis on timber from the Asian forests in the last three decades or so. As a consequence, tropical forest management often neglected other non-timber products and services. Sociologists and economists are beginning to argue that the many non-timber products in a forest may exceed the economic value obtained from a once in 30 to 40 y timber cutting. A case has been built for a Peruvian forest, where the economic value of many of the nontimber forest products sold in the village markets far outweigh the profits from timber (Peters et al. 1989). It was estimated that of the 842 individual trees belonging to 275 species in one hectare, 350 trees (72 spp.) yielded products with direct economic value with a net annual value of US$400 per hectare. No such case has been demonstrated in Asia; at least with dipterocarp forests, the timber values may in general be better than that for South American forests.

Biodiversity misunderstood
Developing countries too have often misunderstood the consequences of some of their actions by making direct comparisons with those in the temperate regions.

The often cited argument against developed countries (in this sense, temperate regions) is that they have destroyed their forests to fund their development, are still cutting down their boreal forests, but meanwhile are trying to halt cutting of tropical forests which brings foreign exchange desperately needed by these countries. There is a lot of truth in the statement that most forests in temperate countries have been tampered heavily, and whatever is left of them resemble more of plantations. But the important issues are missed. While temperate forests have few species of plants, and almost little multiple-use, it is the converse in the tropics. Not only are tropical forests rich in biological diversity, a greater variety of products and services are available from tropical forests, timber being only a small part of it. Next, boreal forests with extremely low biomass buildup can hardly contribute to carbon dioxide sequestration compared to tropical forests. In a sense, the biological diversity in tropical forests appears a burden, and the inhabitants are thus forced to forego development of these lands so as to conserve biodiversity. Therefore, loss of tropical forests cannot be equated on par with temperate forests; more is lost in the former. A new and higher value should be given to biodiverse tropical forests.