* With only two per cent of the world's land mass, India possesses around five percent of the known living organisms on earth.* A significant portion of the 15,000 plant species and 75,000 animal species found in India are threatened today, by the pressure of human activity on land and forests.

* A little over 10 per cent of India's flora faces extinction; many species may be lost even before their possible value is known to society.

* Of the 134 most threatened plant species, 99 are in the Himalayas and North East India.

* Wildlife is threatened by a flourishing illegal trade in wildlife products. Before the ban on the trade of raw snake skins in 1976, Indian dealers sold 3.5 million reptile skins overseas.

* Japan imported 150 kgs of musk from India at Rs 40,000 per kg in 1980. A musk deer's glands secrete at the most 40 gm of musk. So, for every 40 gms of musk one musk deer was killed.

* Elephants, that were once found all over India, have now disappeared from the states of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.

* Over 600 different orchid species, almost three per cent of the world's total, are found in the North Eastern states of India. Many of these species may soon disappear without a trace.

* Cheerapunjee, in Meghalaya, the wettest spot on earth and once covered with lush subtropical forest is barren now.

* The forest department controls 23 per cent of India's total forest area, but only about 10 to 12 per cent of it has adequate tree cover.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.