Q. With reference to an organization known as ‘BirdLife International’, which of the following statements is/are correct?

  1. It is a Global Partnership of Conservation Organizations.
  2. The concept of ‘biodiversity hotspots’ originated from this organization.
  3. It identifies the sites known/ referred to as ‘Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas’.

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

  • 1 only
  • 2 and 3 only
  • 1 and 3 only
  • 1, 2 and 3

Answer: (c) 1 and 3 only

BirdLife International
  • BirdLife International is a global partnership of conservation organizations (NGOs) that strives to conserve birds, their habitats, and global biodiversity, working with people towards sustainability in the use of natural resources.
  • BirdLife International was founded in 1922 as the International Council for Bird Protection by American ornithologists T. Gilbert Pearson and Jean Theodore Delacour.
    • The group was renamed International Committee for Bird Preservation in 1928, International Council for Bird Preservation in 1960, and BirdLife International in 1993.
  • It has a membership of more than 2.5 million people across 116 country partner organizations, including the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the Wild Bird Society of Japan, the National Audubon Society and American Bird Conservancy.
  • It  publishes a quarterly magazine, World Birdwatch, which contains recent news and authoritative articles about birds, their habitats, and their conservation around the world.
  • It is the official Red List authority for birds, for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
  • It also published important bird areas (IBA) inventory.
Biodiversity Hotspots
  • Biodiversity hotspots are defined as regions “where exceptional concentrations of endemic species are undergoing an exceptional loss of habitat”.
  • Biodiversity hotspots are regions with high species richness and a high degree of endemism.
  • The concept of biodiversity hotspots was developed by the Norman Myers in 1988 when he identified that the tropical forest losing its plants species as well as habitat.
    • IUCN prepares ‘Red Data Book’. There are 36 areas around the world that are qualified as Biodiversity hotspots. These hotspots represent only 2.3% of the total Earth’s land surface,  yet more than 50% of the world’s plant species and 42% of all terrestrial vertebrate species are endemic to these areas.
  • According to Conservation International, a region must fulfill the following two criteria to qualify as a hotspot:
    • It must have at least 1,500 vascular plants as endemics which are to say, it must have a high percentage of plant life found nowhere else on the planet. A hotspot, in other words, is irreplaceable.
    • It must have 30% or less of its original natural vegetation (It has to have lost at least 70% of its original habitat). In other words, it must be threatened.