About YAYA TSO | UPSC Current Affairs

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Context: Yaya Tso, known as birds' paradise for its beautiful lake located at an altitude of 4,820 metres, has been proposed as Ladakh’s first biodiversity heritage site (BHS)

Details:

Yaya Tso to become Ladakh’s first biodiversity heritage site
The proposed Yaya Tso site will have an approximate area of 60 square kilometers, which will also include the lake’s watershed, and is among the most beautiful lakes in Ladakh.
The Biodiversity Management Committee, the panchayat of Chumathang village, along with SECURE Himalaya Project recently resolved to declare Yaya Tso as Ladakh’s first BHS under the Biological Diversity Act.
Yaya Tso is a nesting habitat for a large number of birds and animals, such as the bar-headed goose, black-necked crane and brahminy duck, the officials said, adding it also has the distinction of being one of the highest breeding sites of the black-necked crane in India.

What are Biological Diversity Heritage Sites?

Biodiversity Heritage Sites (BHS) are areas that are unique, ecologically fragile ecosystems having rich biodiversity comprising of any one or more of the components such as; species richness, high endemism, presence of rare, endemic and threatened species, keystone species, species of evolutionary significance, wild ancestors of domestic/cultivated species or land races or their varieties, past pre-eminence of biological components represented by fossil beds and having cultural or aesthetic values.

Importance of Biological Diversity Heritage Sites:

Biodiversity is closely linked to ecological security.
Loss of biodiversity and bioresources show an increasing trend mainly due to human activities. Therefore, it is necessary to instil and nurture conservation ethics in the community.
Declaration of Biodiversity Heritage Sites is a welcome step which will exhibit the conservation ethics and values practiced by these societies to the wider world.
Such declaration will help them renew their commitment to conservation besides acting as a model for other communities to follow. This is a small but important step that a community can take towards protecting the environment and ensuring sustainability of bio-resources across generations.
BHS declaration marks the voluntary participation of communities in protection and conservation of biodiversity which helps in expanding the reach of conservation.

Section 37 of the Biological Diversity Act:

As per this section, the State Governments are empowered to notify in the official gazette, in consultation with ‘local bodies’, areas of biodiversity importance as Biodiversity Heritage Sites.
Under sub section (2) of Section 37 of the BD Act, the State Government in consultation with the Central Government may frame rules for the management and conservation of BHS.
Under sub section (3) of Section 37 of the BD Act, the State Governments are empowered to frame schemes for compensating or rehabilitating any person or section of people economically affected by such notification.

Criteria for Identification of BHS:

Areas having any of the following characteristics, may qualify for inclusion as BHS.

Areas that contain a mosaic of natural, semi-natural, and manmade habitats, which together contain a significant diversity of life forms.
Areas that contain significant domesticated biodiversity component and/or representative agro-ecosystems with on-going agricultural practices that sustain this diversity.
Areas that are significant from a biodiversity point of view as also important cultural spaces such as sacred groves/trees and sites, or other large community conserved areas.
Areas including very small ones that offer refuge or corridors for threatened and endemic fauna and flora, such as community conserved areas or urban greens and wetlands.
Areas that provide habitats, aquatic or terrestrial, for seasonal migrant species for feeding and breeding.
Areas that are maintained as preservation plots by the research wing of Forest department.
Medicinal Plant Conservation Areas.

Identification and Declaration of BHS:

State Biodiversity Boards (SBB) may invite suggestion (or consider those already coming from communities) for declaration of BHSs, through the Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) and other relevant community institutions.