Important Facts for Prelims (12th December 2018)

• 12 Dec 2018

Eco-Sensitive Zone around Protected Regions

• The Supreme Court directed the Union Environment Ministry to declare 10 km area around 21 national parks and wildlife sanctuaries across the country as ‘eco-sensitive zones’.
• Eco-Sensitive Zone (ESZ) does not affect the ownership rights of people on land resources, it, however restricts land-use change.

BioBlitz

• People from across the India participated in the BioBlitz conducted by Bengaluru’s National Centre for Biological Sciences.
• Participants observed individual trees in their neighbourhoods and campuses, and contributed information including the tree species, its location, proportions of flowers, fruits and leaves.
• This will generate a baseline for tree phenology( periodic events such as fruiting and flowering) across India over the years, helping scientists analyse if climate change is altering tree phenology in future.

BioBlitz

• A bioblitz is an event that focuses on finding and identifying as many species as possible in a specific area over a short period of time.
• It is also known as a biological inventory or biological census whose primary goal is to get an overall count of the plants, animals, fungi, and other organisms found in a place.
• It differs from a scientific inventory in a number of ways. Scientific inventories are usually limited to biologists, geographers, and other scientists. A bioblitz brings together volunteer scientists, as well as families, students, teachers, and other members of the community.
• While a scientific survey often focuses on unique or isolated areas, bioblitzes focus on areas that are connected to residential, urban, and industrial areas.
• These differences make a bioblitz a unique biological survey that encourages a relationship between the natural and human communities of a given area. It aims to promote and improve local natural spaces by empowering citizens to better understand and protect biodiversity.