With reference to an organization known as ‘Birdlife International’ which of the following statements is/are correct? 1) It is a Global Partnership of Conservation Organizations. 2) The concept of ‘biodiversity hotspots’ originated from this organization. 3) It identifies the sites known/referred to as ‘Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas’. Select the correct answer using the code given below.

Statements 1 and 3 are correct, so the answer is C. BirdLife International describes itself as a Global Partnership of conservation organisations, with national partners in many countries. It is also the body that identifies and documents Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs), which are sites selected on objective criteria based on the presence of threatened birds, range-restricted species, or congregations of birds.

• Statement 2 is wrong. The concept of biodiversity hotspots was proposed by Norman Myers in 1988, not by BirdLife. Later, the hotspot framework was developed and refined by other conservation groups.

The core concept here is the institutional role of conservation NGOs in identifying priority sites, which links to the Environment and Biodiversity section and to Mains questions on Protected Areas, the Ramsar and CBD framework, and community-based conservation. Keep the distinction clear: IBAs are a BirdLife-led site identification exercise, while hotspots are a separate concept with a separate origin.

Trap: Aspirants often assume that any well-known conservation body originated the hotspot idea, because both concepts are about priority conservation sites. Remember that the two are different concepts with different origins.