Biodiversity Richness of Kerala

Biodiversity and ecosystem services are central to sustaining life on Earth. The diverse physical features of Kerala has resulted in 13 agroclimatic zones and a variety of ecosystems such as forests, grasslands, wetlands, coastal and marine ecosystems which harbour high biodiversity. Of the thirty nine sites in the Western Ghats inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List, 19 are located in Kerala.The Kuttanad below sea level farming has been recognized as a Globally important agricultural heritage system (GIAHS). Kerala has been in the forefront of sustainable utilization of bio-resources and the Kani model was the first to receive the Equator prize way back in 2002, much before the Nagoya protocol. The Ashtamudi short-neck clam fishery is the third fishery in Asia to receive the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification. However the unique settlement pattern: Rural -Urban Continuum, the high rate of urbanization and population density in Kerala are major challenges in sustaining this population without encroaching on forests, low lying wetlands and coastal zones.

The book "Biodiversity richness of Kerala" - organized into eight chapters, explores the richness of biodiversity ranging from species diversity, ecosystem diversity and genetic diversity in terrestrial, inland and marine ecosystems of Kerala. It gives an insight into various international, national and state legislations relating to conservation and outlines the approaches adopted to conserve Kerala's natural landscape and endangered species. For realizing the fair and equitable sharing of benefits, the key element is to estimate the contribution that the bio-resources have made to the creation of the benefits. The authors have attempted to assess the bio-resources with economic potential in Kerala and their market value which is important in the perspective of Access and Benefit sharing, in this book. We hope that this publication will provide a benchmark to policy makers in developing a strategy for planning the activities of all those sectors that can have a positive or negative impact on biodiversity. The publication will also benefit scientists, conservationists and researchers in the field.

The book has been made possible by the valuable inputs provided by Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi , Zoological Survey of India, Kozhikode, MS Swaminathan Research Foundation, Wayanad, ICAR-National Bureau of Plant genetic resources,Thrissur, and Indian institute of Spices research , Kozhikode. We are also grateful to all the staff of Kerala State Biodiversity Board for their valuable suggestions and cooperation.

Dr. Oommen V. Oommen is an eminent zoologist and conservationist with three decades of experience behind him. He is dedicated to integration of scientific knowledge to natural resource management and is actively involved in science popularization programmes. Currently, he is the Chairman of Kerala State Biodiversity Board. Dr. Oommen is piloting a large number of conservation programmes in Kerala mainly on Aquatic and Marine Biodiversity Conservation, Conservation of traditional breeds and varieties and Ecosystem conservation. He has initiated the capacity building programmes for empowering local community to manage their natural resources sustainably in Kerala and has promoted a people inclusive form of Biodiversity management of Western Ghats in Kerala.

Dr KP Laladhas is a doctorate in Biochemistry with more than 15 years of teaching experience at postgraduate level and has several publications to his credit. For the past five years he is functioning as Member secretary of Kerala State Biodiversity Board the state's premier statutory organization dealing with matters relating to the conservation of biodiversity, sustainable use of its components and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of biological resources' utilization. He has been instrumental in establishment of Biodiversity Management Committee a statutory organization in all Local Self Governments of Kerala for the purpose of promoting conservation of biological resources in a decentralized way.

Dr Preetha N is a doctorate in Forestry from Forest Research Institute, Dehradun, India. She has more than 14 years of experience in various aspects of Biodiversity conservation and sustainable utilization, including value addition and development of bio-products. She has published several papers in International and national journals. She is qualified in Intellectual property Management, and is coordinating the implementation of Access and Benefit sharing in Kerala and Access to Bioresources in the state of Kerala. Dr Preetha is also actively involved in implementing various conservation projects in Kerala and generating awareness of the intrinsic values of biodiversity among public.

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