RTI MUMBAI/DAY 2/SES 4/ SLIDE 2.4.1 1 Bio-Diversity

RTI MUMBAI/DAY 2/SES 4/ SLIDE 2.4.1

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Bio-Diversity


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Learning ObjectiveParticipants will be exposed to

INTOSAI guidelines and experience and SAI India’s experience on audit

of Bio-diversity. Issues at Project/Programme -

Implementation level at Urban Local Bodies


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Bio-diversity

Refer to all aspects of variability in the living world, including diversity within and between – individuals, – populations,– species,– communities, and– ecosystems.

• plants,• animals and• micro-organisms,• their genes, and • the systems they inhabit.


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Scope of Bio-Diversity

Bio-Diversity is a complex subject area. It has a variety of aspects to it or ways of describing it. – Ecosystems

– Genetics

– Species

– Habitat


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Ecosystems

• close relationship between the subject of ecosystems and biological diversity.

• Some groupings for ecosystems are as follows: – Marine and coastal ecosystems (mangroves, coral

reefs, sea grasses, deep sea)– Inland water ecosystems (rivers, lakes, swamps)– Forest ecosystems (tropical rainforests, boreal forest)– Dryland ecosystems (deserts, grasslands)


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Components of an ecosystem

• Biotic – Plants and animals;

• Abiotic – water, air, nutrients and solar energy;


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Why environmental concerns?

• Ecosystems are dynamic in nature;

• Can respond to limited changing conditions;

• Stress beyond the tolerance limits can be fatal for the biosphere;


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Genetics.

Genetics refer to the – chromosomes,– genes, and– DNA which will determine the uniqueness of each

individual and species.

• expressions of genetic diversity-– Colors,– flavors, – size or – disease resistance


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Species• Species are defined as members of a group of organisms

that reproduce amongst themselves. • Grouped according to different kingdoms of living

organisms. • Only about 1.75 million species have been identified; there

are many other species that are unknown to us and • Scientists estimated they range from 3 to 100 million.

– Plants, – Animals, – Insects – Bacteria,– Protoctista (algae, protozoa) – Fungi and more.


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Habitats Habitats refer to the areas in which

living organisms live and survive in an ecologically balanced environment

– Terestrial

– Freshwater

– Marine


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Terrestrial Habitats

Most of our planet is covered by oceans. Only 30 % is land surface.


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Forest• total area of land covered with forest in the year 2000 was

3,866.1 million hectares. One third of the world’s land area

• 95% is natural forest and 5% is planted forest. • Forests are critically important for maintaining biological

diversity. Estimated to contain half of the world’s total biological diversity, natural forests have the highest species diversity and endemism of any ecosystem type.

• There are three major types of forests classed according to latitude: • tropical, • temperate, • boreal forests (taiga).


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Grasslands

• Once, the grasslands occupied 40% of the land area, but today most of it is under cultivation.

• high rates of evaporation, periodic severe droughts

• Some examples of grasslands are • the prairies of North America, • the pusztas of Hungary, • the South African veld, • the South American pampas, • the steppes of Europe, and • the savanna of the east Africa.


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Desert

• Deserts are defined by geographers as land where evaporation exceeds rainfall.

• occupy about one fifth of the land surface of the earth and are largely confined to a worldwide belt between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.

• Some major examples of world desert are the Sahara and Namib Desert in Africa, and Thal Desert in India.

• Habitat for species which can survive the intense heat and arid conditions have adapted through natural processes.


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Tundra

• Tundra is the coldest of all habitats. • Two types of tundra: arctic and alpine.• The arctic tundra is located in the northern

hemisphere, encircling the North Pole and extending south to the coniferous forests of the taiga.

• The alpine tundra is located on mountains throughout the high altitude where trees cannot grow.


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Freshwater Habitats

• the diverse communities found in lakes, rivers and wetlands, are quite limited covering only about 1% of the Earth’s surface.

• Highly diverse and contain a disproportiantely large number of the world’s species.

• The majority of the world’s population lives near and depends on freshwater environments as a source of water, food, and employment.


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Marine

• The marine – or ocean - environment occupies 70% of the earth surface.

• It is in some places nearly 7 kilometers deep.• The average depth is around 4000 meters. The volume

of surface area lit by the sun is small in comparison of the total volume of water involved. This and the dilute solution of nutrients, limits production.

• All of the seas are interconnected by currents, dominated by waves, influenced by tides, and characterized by saline waters.


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Environmental Issues

• Cross sectoral in nature

• Green, Brown and Blue issues

• Importance of production and consumption pattern

• Local Issues

• Global Issues


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Green Issues

• Conservation and management of natural recourses;

• Biodiversity-genetic, species, eco-systems;

• Bringing 1/3 of land under forest cover;


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Brown Issues

• Industrial pollution;

• Urban waste management;

• Air and noise pollution;

• Prevention versus end of pipe approach-EOP

• EOP means correcting the damage at the end—by washing, purifying etc.


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Contd…

• SOP Start of the pipe solution• Instead of correction at the, introduce

innovated methods to the process so that the damage is minimised or mitigated.

• The environmental damage is foreseen and necessary precautions taken at the beginning itself so that the end product is devoid of damage.


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Blue Issues

• Limited Freshwater resources;• Competing demand by various segments;• Marine and coastal pollution;• Contamination of water-water borne diseases• Discharge of effluents in the water- drinking

water problems, problems for irrigation• Land decay


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Emerging Environmental Issues

• Climate Change

• Depletion of Stratospheric Ozone

• Electronic wastes

• Bio-medical wastes

• Solid waste management


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Contd..

• Due to climate change fauna/flora get affected– some die, some perish and some get extinct

• Ozone depletion--- animals and human beings get affected due to ultra violet rays of the sun

• Waste management is posing problems and due to hazardous waste and its effect the living organizations including plants get damaged and may pose the threat of exstinction


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Discussion Question

Why is it important to protect Bio- Diversity?


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Importance of Bio-Diversity

• Protecting biological diversity is in our self interest.• Biological resources are the pillars upon which we

build civilization. • Nature’s product supports such diverse industries as

agriculture, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, pulp and paper, horticulture, construction and waste treatment.

• The loss of biological diversity threatens our food supplies, opportunities for recreation and tourism, and sources of wood, medicines, and energy.

• It also interferes with essential ecological functions.Our need for conservation of nature was once ignored and often considered unimportant.


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Importance of Bio-Diversity (continued)

• cures to illnesses or for infusions of tough genes from wild plants to save our crops from pest outbreaks.

• provide various ‘ecological services’ that would be extremely costly or impossible to replace.

• These natural services such as pest control performed by various creatures feeding on one another,

• pollination performed by insects and birds going about their everyday business,

• or flood protection provided by wetlands.


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Discussion

What goods and services provided by ecosystems or bio-diversity


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Goods and services provided by ecosystems or bio-diversity

• foods, fuel and fibre• shelter and building material• purification of water• detoxification and decomposition of wastes• stabilization and moderation of the earth’s climate• moderation of floods, droughts, temperatures extremes• and the forces of wind generation and• renewal of soil fertility, including nutrients cycling• Pollination of crop of plants, including many crops• Control of pests and diseases• Maintenance of genetic resources as key inputs to crops variety and

livestock breeds, medicines, and other products• Cultural and aesthetic benefits• Ability to adapt to change


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Discussion

What are the main issues related to bio-diversity?


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Species extinction

Loss of species is a natural process, but the rate of extinction has accelerated dramatically as a result of human activity

Extinction raises specific concern because of its irreversibility


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Urbanisation has dramatically increased the rate

Deforestation is one of the leading causes

Habitat loss is identified as a main threat to 85% of all species described in the Red List


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2. Invasive species”alien” or ”exotic” species: occurs in an area outside its historically known natural range as a result of intentional or accidental dispersal by human activities

”invasive alian species”: established in the new environment, threatening native biodiversity


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King CrabZebra mussel


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Global climate change

• Our planet is warming faster than at any time in the past 10,000 years

• This greenhouse effect is driven by gasses like CO2,methane, ozone, CFCs etc. which have reached their highest level for more than 400,000 years

• There is a need to reduce emissions of CO2


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Coral bleaching

Climate change is the primary threat to coral reefs on the global scale: many coral reefs are dying in a phenomenon called coral bleaching


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Over-exploitation

• World population more than 6 billion people

• Life on Earth is increasingly being altered by humans

• Old ways of harvesting are being replaced by intensive technologies often without controls to prevent over-harvesting

• Unsustainable use: ”the use of natural resources in a way and at a rate that lead to the loss of biodiveristy”


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Towards Solution

• Reduction in the use of fossil fuel• Shift to renewable resources• Energy efficiency and conservation• Sustainable consumption and production

patterns• Conservation and management of natural

resources• Energy and environmental audits


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Pollution

• One of the most difficult problems to overcome

• Do not recognize international boundaries

• Atmospheric pollutants drift with prevailing air currents and are deposited far from their original source

• An international effort is required to deal with these threats


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“What are some means of protecting biodiversity?”

• in situ conservation -“the conservation of ecosystems and natural habitats and the maintenance and recovery of viable populations of species in their natural surroundings...”

• ex-situ conservation which is “the conservation of components of biological diversity outside their natural habitats” such as Zoos for living animals and related species,

• and for the aquaria, botanical gardens for plantations, and for preservation of species generation, we will have the gene banks.


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What Conservation strategies can we have to protect Bio-diversity?”

• conserving individual, endangered and rare species such as for the animals and plants listed under the IUCN red list.

• conserve areas containing high specie richness, or high degree of endemism.

• identify the areas and protect endangered species against illegal activities such as burning, cultivating, hunting and poaching.

• focusing on critical, unique and representative habitats and as a result may then be considered as protected areas and defend them


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What Conservation strategies can we have to protect Bio-diversity?” (continue)

• Increasing the public awareness about biological diversity and ecosystem via mass media and documentary shows

• Signing of treaties or agreement and form resolution to protect the biological diversity.

• At different international level these treaties may be bilateral or multi lateral agreement between governments in order to conserve the natural heritage.

• At national level the governments should impose rules and regulation to protect and conserve the biological diversity.

• Public should be made aware about ban on trading and illegal import and export of domestic, exotic or nearly extinct animals and plants.

• Top of all the most effective way to conserve biological diversity is to prevent the degradation of habitats


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Convention of Bio-Diversity

• The Earth Summit. global problems concerning environment and development

• 1992- Rio de Janeiro • 180 countries. • known as the Convention on Bio- Diversity. • the first global agreement to address all aspects of biodiversity:

genetic resources, species, and ecosystems. • It was the first agreement on the conservation and sustainable

use of biodiversity. It was an initiative developed to ensure that the Earth’s natural resources will be available for future generations


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• Article 8 of the agreement provides the main set of Convention obligations, recognizing in situ conservation as the primary approach.

• Each party is required to establish protected areas, to conserve biodiversity, to restore degraded ecosystems, and to promote the recovery of threatened species.

• to control the risks posed by organisms modified by biotechnology, to prevent the introduction of alien invasive species that threaten ecosystems, habitats or species.

• Governments to develop national biodiversity strategies and action plans

• Government to report on how it is meeting the goals.


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Conservation of Natural Resources

• Forestry-The forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, as amended from time to time, checks the indiscriminate diversion of forest land for purposes unrelated to forestry.

• Wildlife-Audit scrutiny in relation to activities for the preservation of wild life would extend to the enforcement of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 through the offices of the Regional Deputy Directors of Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.


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Contd..

• Make the Forest Act stringent and control poaching so that the species getting extinct can be preserved

• Afforestation can increase the forest cover and reduce CO2

• Regulate hazardous wastes going into the water system and there by saving flora , fauna

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Audit Approach

• C & AG’s MSO (Audit- Para 3.19.3 states that Environment Audit would be conducted within the broad framework of Regularity and Performance Audit.

• Para 3.19.9 Audit should also review in depth, from the ECPA, VFM or 3Es perspective, specific programmes and projects, such as the Ganga Action Plan, Taj Protection Mission etc implemented or under implementation by the Ministry for prevention and control of pollution.


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Contd…

• Increase the awareness among the auditors the dangers that are being faced for endangered species.

• During forest audit besides doing the compliance audit and financial audit concentrate on the environmental issues and and comment on the biodiversity issues explained earlier.


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Contd.

• Audit can be done for both the areas• Compliance• Financial• Over and above performance audit of an

environmental programme and any other programme of Govt. having significant environmental impact can be done to focus the need for controlling the damage to the bio diversity.

Documents

RTI MUMBAI/DAY 2/SES 4/ SLIDE 2.4.1 1 Bio-Diversity