World Biodiversity Day, know more about our ecosystem

 World Biodiversity (जैव विविधता) Day, know more about our ecosystem

As sanctioned (स्वीकृत) by the UN, May 22 is observed as the World Biodiversity Day. The theme for this year is Biodiversity and Sustainable Tourism. Check out some facts about the planet’s ecosystem: The UN has declared(घोषित) 2011-20 the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity, which serves to support and promote the goal of significantly (काफी) reducing biodiversity loss. 70 per cent of the world’s species is found in just 12 countries: Australia, Brazil, China, Columbia, Costa Rica, Congo, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Madagascar, Mexio and Peru . More than 70,000 plant species are used in traditional and modern medicinal purposes. The Himalayan belt has an estimated 25,000 plant species, comprising (शामिल) 10 per cent of the world’s flora. The ocean constitutes 90 per cent of the habitable space on the planet. By the year 2100, without significant changes, more than half of the world’s marine species may stand in the brink of extinction(विलुप्त होने)

There are close to 500 dead zones — hypoxic areas in water bodies, caused by excessive nutrient pollution — covering more than 2,45,000 sq km globally, equivalent to the surface of UK. 98 per cent of Madagascar’s land mammals, 92 per cent reptiles, 68 per cent flora and 41 per cent of its breeding bird species exist nowhere else on Earth.

According to the WWF Living Planet Report 2014, between 1970 and 2010, the planet has lost 52 per cent of its biodiversity. Estimates of the number of species on Earth vary from 3 million to over 100 million