FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION LEGISLATION IN INDIA

Article is devoted to the issues of formation and development of the legislation of India, regulating the sphere of protection of nature and biological diversity of the country. National legislation of different periods is analyzed, starting from the end of the 19th century and ending with the beginning of the 21st century. The authors examine in detail the features of legal acts of different periods and indicate the trends of their development, change and improvement. Conclusions about Indian legal traditions in the sphere of environmental protectionare formulated. Biodiversity is the variety and variability of living organisms and plants in a given area. At present time biodiversity is under threat due to development, overexploitation of natural resources and environmental pollution. To save the planet earth conservation of nature is now being discussed in almost all the international platform. India is a mega-biodiversity region and signatory of many international conventions to protect and conserve the nature. To follow these conventions, to save the biodiversity from global as well as local physical, climatic challenges and human interference, India has made many policies, passed many laws and enacted a number of acts to conserve the country’s nature. A lot of efforts have been made at government level, which is helping a lot to protect the nature for being degraded. The present paper summarises many of the acts passed by the Parliament of India to conserve biodiversity.