Examine the significance of India as a 'refugium' for ancient plant lineages in the context of global climate change and biodiversity conservation.

Q. Examine the significance of India as a 'refugium' for ancient plant lineages in the context of global climate change and biodiversity conservation. (15 marks, 250-350 words)

A refugium is a region where lineages survive climatic upheavals that eliminate them elsewhere. Fossil leaves of kevda (kewra), of the screw-pine family Pandanaceae, dated to about 24 million years and recovered from Assam's Makum Coalfield, establish India — especially the northeast — as one such deep-time refuge [1].

Evidence establishing the refugium - Scientists of the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences (BSIP), Lucknow identified four fossil leaves from the Tikak Parbat Formation, their sword-shaped form, parallel veins and marginal prickles confirming Pandanaceae [1]. - The lineage predates the Himalaya's formation and survived the uplift-driven shift away from warm, humid lowland conditions, yet kevda still flourishes in India [1]. - The same coalfield yielded the world's oldest fossils of Nothopegia (~24–23 million years), a genus that disappeared from the northeast but persists in the Western Ghats [2].

Relevance to global climate change - Such fossils are a natural experiment: past plant responses to orogeny-driven climatic change help model how ecosystems will respond to present warming [2]. - They show migration and extinction are ancient responses to climate shifts, distinguishing lineages that track climate southward from those that endure in situ [2]. - They identify climatically stable pockets — the northeast and Western Ghats — that merit priority attention.

Relevance to biodiversity conservation - Shifts conservation from protecting charismatic species alone to safeguarding evolutionary continuity and the habitats that shelter it. - Kevda's use in fragrance, temple ritual and traditional medicine ties such conservation directly to cultural and livelihood value [1]. - Fossil-bearing coalfields, however, face mining pressure, and paleobotanical capacity remains concentrated in a few institutions.

India's refugia are thus living archives linking deep-time survival to present-day resilience. Integrating paleo-evidence into biodiversity planning, protecting fossil-rich sites alongside hotspots, and strengthening DST research institutions would convert this scientific insight into conservation practice, advancing SDG 15 on terrestrial ecosystems.

(~305 words)

Sources: 1. PIB, Ministry of Science & Technology — "Plant yielding the fragrant kewra is older than human civilization & predates Himalaya formation" (15 July 2026) — kevda fossil age, Pandanaceae identification, Makum Coalfield/Tikak Parbat site, BSIP authorship, cultural uses 2. Department of Science & Technology — "A 24-million-year-old secret unearthed by the discovery of fossil leaves… in the Makum Coalfield of Assam" — Nothopegia record, Himalayan uplift and climate shift, migration to Western Ghats, relevance to modern climate response