Source: pib.nic.in

NEW DELHI, INDIA, October 20, 2010: Our planet’s biodiversity is the outcome of over 3.5 billion years of evolutionary history, shaped by natural processes and increasingly, by the influence of humans. But biodiversity is not distributed uniformly across the globe. Certain countries, lying wholly or partly within the tropics, are characterized by high species richness and more number of endemic species. These countries are known as Mega diverse countries. India is one of the identified mega diverse countries of the World. With only 2.4% of the land area, India accounts for 7-8% of the recorded species of the world.

Over 45,000 species of plants and 91,000 species of animals have been recorded so far. It is remarkable to note that India maintains this biodiversity while supporting 20% of the world’s human and cattle population. India also has four of the 34 identified biodiversity hot spots of the world, which are characterized by high degree of endemism and are therefore areas of global conservation concern.