**3. Why community-centred conservation**

The only strategy to protect biodiversity is the conservation enclosures which restrict the access of communities to nature. Indigenous controlled territories are crucial to sustain habitats rich in biodiversity and the cultural knowledge that comes with those environments.

To achieve global targets of protecting biodiversity, the leadership of local and indigenous communities plays a significant role. Community conservation centers around the people that know and depend on their environment including forests, lakes and wildlife [10]. The rights of local communities to make decisions about their own resources must be recognized and supported through clear laws and regulations. The five principles have been framed by Global Biodiversity Framework 2020 through which governments and conservation partners can support community-centered conservation [11].


All these principles reflect the efforts of various international organizations along with that of government initiatives that supported community-centred conservation. These principles reflect the realities of communities (local and indigenous) as a whole and their aspirations (**Figure 1**).

**Figure 1.** *Governance principles and community-centred Conservation.*

### **4. Conservation strategies for endangered plants**

The endangered plants are considered as jewels of our natural heritage and are best conserved, managed and protected by experts in collaboration with local communities. In India, the endangered species of plants (**Table 2**) are in urgent need of conservation as these are under continuous threat of extinction. The geographical areas with high number of endangered plants and large potential to protect those species should be given due attention and then the resources of endangered plants should be conserved [15].

The endangered plants which thrive in their natural habitats i.e., forests and grasslands are best conserved by maintaining healthy native habitat. The periodic monitoring is the only action taken to ensure that the plant populations are still thriving. It provides long term existence as the decreasing populations of plants can be survived at initial stages. Periodic monitoring plays a significant role in detecting early signs of decline and degradation in endangered plant populations and their habitat. Habitat restoration is possible by simple practices like removal of weeds and for those plants which rely on disturbance-dependent ecosystems like fire, wind or water.

Some plants are endemic and restricted to special soil types and other topological factors which are impossible to recreate. So, the conservation of viable habitat and maintenance of natural ecological processes are mandatory. Example: Limestone, Dolomite Mountains of San Bernardino County, California is home to plant species like Cushenbury milk-vetch (*Astragalus albens* Greene, 1885).

Pollinator decline acts as a major cause for the rarity of the plant species. In such cases, the propagation of endangered plants is carried out off-site and re-plantation of seedlings in their natural habitats is preferred. Reintroduction of pollinators in the specified habitats is also monitored, e.g., Clay phacelia (*Phacelia argilacea* Atwood, 1973).

For the conservation of endangered plant species, various in-situ and ex-situ measures have been adopted [16, 17]. Both of the practices target critical habitats, i.e., specific geographical areas which form the basis for the conservation of an endangered or threatened species. In-situ techniques focused on the prevention of total loss of the species and provide new plants for population re-establishment or habitat restoration. Botanical gardens using the system of Botanic Gardens Conservation International mainly constitute the ex-situ method for maintenance of species [18, 19].


#### **Table 2.**

*Endangered plants in India [12–14].*

#### *Community Conservation DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94557*

The recent advancement in plant biotechnology permits the maintenance and propagation of endangered species. It allows high added value compounds to be obtained in a sustainable and ecological way in plant cell and organ cultures without need to harvest plants under pressure in their native habitat. Nowadays, it is easier to investigate the population structure, genetic variations and recent demographic events in threatened species using population genomic approaches. A genomic approach provides detailed account of the present and past demographic parameters, phylogenetic issues and molecular basis for inbreeding. It also helps to understand genetic diseases and provides information about the mechanisms related to low fitness with low genetic variations. Genetic and environmental methodologies are integrated into conservation biology and used to design fast monitoring strategies [20].

Seed banks can be maintained through desiccation or by cryopreservation (−196°C) [18, 21]. The Royal Botanic Gardens of Kew is host to the world's ex-situ collection of seeds from wild flowering plants. The plant species which cannot be conserved through conventional seed banking need other treatment as dormancy of rupture [19]. In some plants the seed production is very low so seed storage is impossible. Therefore, the strategies which induce physiological and mechanical seed dormancy rupture must be carried out to cause a positive response on seed germination [21].

Micro propagation is a method of producing certain plants in much larger numbers than by natural methods. It results in large number of clones of the original plant via tissue culture techniques, the clones can be further used to cryopreserve or reestablish the plant populations [21]. It is the only viable option for ex-situ conservation of those plants which cannot be conserved through conventional seed banking [18].

There are many ways to develop strategies for conservation of endangered plant species. In order to protect plant species and stop further plant declination, get involved in the conservation strategies and programmes [22].
