'Biodiversity hotspots’ regions with very high levels of species richness and high degree of endemism (that is, species confined to that region and not found anywhere else). Initially 25 biodiversity hotspots were identified but subsequently nine more have been added to the list, bringing the total number of biodiversity hotspots in the world to 36. These hotspots are also regions of accelerated habitat loss. 

Biodiversity hotspots in India  – Western Ghats, Indo-Burma and Himalaya

Although all the biodiversity hotspots put together cover less than 2 per cent of the earth’s land area, the number of species they collectively harbour is extremely high and strict protection of these hotspots could reduce the ongoing mass extinctions by almost 30 per cent.

List of Biodiversity Hotspots in the world

1. Tropical Andes

2. Tumbes-Choco-Magdalena

3. Madrean Pine–Oak Woodlands

4. Cerrado

5. Chilean Winter Rainfall and Valdivian Forests

6. Atlantic Forest

7. Mesoamerica

8. Caribbean Islands

9. California Floristic Province

10. Guinean Forests of West Africa

11. Cape Floristic Region

12. Succulent Karoo

13. Maputaland–Pondoland–Albany

14. Coastal Forests of Eastern Africa

15. Eastern Afromontane

16. Horn of Africa

17. Madagascar and the Indian Ocean Islands

18 Mediterranean Basin

19. Caucasus

20. Irano-Anatolian

21. Mountains of Central Asia

22. Western Ghats and Sri Lanka

23. Himalaya

24. Mountains of Southwest China

25. Indo-Burma

26. Sundaland

27. Wallacea

28. Philippines

29. Japan

30. Southwest Australia

31. East Melanesian Islands

32. New Zealand

33. New Caledonia

34. Polynesia–Micronesia

35. Forests of East Australia

36. North American Coastal Plain


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