Biodiversity conservation and management

Abstract

This paper gives a brief overview of the research activities of the French Institute in the field of biodiversity conservation. First, biodiversity-related issues are set in the global context, while India's own biological profile is highlighted. Then, the importance of forest management and policies are expressed, as well as the necessity of a new strategy and action plans for sustainable conservation and management of biodiversity through an integrative approach by taking into account ecological, social, economic and institutional aspects. In the wide field of biodiversity, the French Institute's research programmes have been focusing for about four decades on species diversity and ecosystem diversity at the local (i.e. stand and community), landscape and regional levels. The Institute has been concentrating on plant ecology with a strong emphasis on trees and forests, from open woodland to dense moist evergreen forests, considering their present status as well as their long-term history. Geographically speaking, most of the studies are being carried out in the western ghats and some projects in the eastern ghats and mangroves. The biodiversity-related activities of the French Institute come under 'assessment of biodiversity' and 'monitoring the dynamics of biodiversity'. Assessment employs both ecosystem and species oriented approaches and makes comprehensive use of GIS to integrate them. The monitoring of biodiversity dynamics covers studies on land use and land cover changes, ecosystem uses and forest products, and forest dynamics itself. Although these long-term efforts have already been able to put together a sum of knowledge that can help to better define conservation strategies, more insight is now to be gained on landscape changes linked to social and economic aspects of forest use and management.