Strategies for Popularisation of Taxonomy in India

Abstract

Taxonomy provides a window to the broad understanding of biodiversity. While it is being increasingly recognized that taxonomy is the most important tool for identification and evaluation of living organisms, there is also a growing apprehension that interest in this important branch of science is rapidly declining. At a time when human-induced species extinctions far outnumber the natural processes, it would be a sorry state of affairs if species were to disappear even before they are discovered, named and classified. In the present-day scenario where students from institutions of higher learning evince only a modicum of interest in taxonomy
and concomitantly these systems being able to produce far fewer schools of taxonomists, the task of reviving interest in taxonomy seems indeed daunting. Several measures are suggested herein to address this issue and some strategies proposed as part of the implementation of the Global Taxonomic Initiative in the Indian context.