Biodiversity forms the root of all living systems. India is fortunate enough to 3 ranked sixth among the twelve mega biodiversity countries. Its biological resources include 50,000 species of plants and 81,000 species of animals, eluding ones belonging to lower phylas. However, due to habitat loss and overexploitation owing to burgeoning population, the biodiversity of our country is severely threatened and some species which one abundantly round, have now become rare and some have even become extinct. The Indian cheetah (Acinonyx jabatus) is one such stark example.

In the recent years, the concern of the Government towards the conservation of biodiversity has grown considerably. This is amply reflected in the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, Forest Conservation Act, 1980 and the Forest Policy of 1988. The Indian Government is also a party a number of international treaties and conventions which include the CITES, Ramsar Convention, Biodiversity Convention, etc. Of late, the modalities of patenting of biodiversity under intellectual Property Rights [PR) are being worked out to check the piracy of genetic material. A number of organisations, both governmental and non governmental, are working towards both ex situ and in situ conservation of biodiversity.

In a bid to contributing towards to cause of biodiversity conservation, the an Institute of Forest Management organised a Nation al Workshop titled "Biodiversity Conservation in Managed Forest and Protected Areas" m November 29 to December 01, 1995 in which, a number of eminent foresters, scientists and researchers deliberated on various issues related to the subject. This book is an outcome of the selected papers contributed by these persons. The recommendations of the workshop forms the conclusive part of the book.