Manju Sundriyal¹, Bhavtosh Sharma^1,

The variety of plants, animals and microorganisms reflect the biodiversity of that area. Uttarakhand state falls under Central Himalaya which is rich in biodiversity as this area exhibits large number of plants and animals. There are about 7000 species of plants and 500 species of fauna in Uttarakhand state. Contribution of floral diversity is 31% of total floral density of India whereas fauna contributes just 1.58% of the total faunal density of the country. Besides, there are 119 endemic species of flowering plants in the state that exhibited 2.35% endemism and 35 faunal endemic species including 11 vertebrates and 24 invertebrates. Many plant and animal species are threatened, rare or becoming extint therefore some major initiatives have been taken such as 6 wild life sanctuaries, 5 national parks, one conservation reserve and one biosphere reserve has been established apart from this few herbal gardens, arboretums, parks, zoos, medicinal and aromatic plant area, sacred grooves have been made by the state government to save them for sustainable ecological balance. Unfortunately for the last few years biodiversity of the area is declining and now it’s important to strenthern existing policy of the state. In the present paper, an attempt has been made to assess the status of biodiversity of Central Himalaya.

biodiversity, non timber forest produce, medicinal and aromatic plants, traditional farming systems, flora, fauna, policy