National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plan

India released the Updated National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (2024-2030): In alignment with Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework - A Road Map for Conservation of India’s Biodiversity on October 30, 2024.

Context and Background

India has a rich tradition of biodiversity conservation, which predates the global biodiversity movement and the establishment of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The journey toward formal biodiversity management began with the creation of the first National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) in 1999, followed by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Project from 2000-2003 that fostered wider stakeholder engagement in biodiversity planning. This culminated in the National Biodiversity Action Plan (NBAP) in 2008, which was further refined in 2014 to align with the Aichi Biodiversity Targets established during the CBD's 2010 meeting.

India's commitment to biodiversity was also demonstrated through various national reports and updates, including an overview in 2019 that highlighted the status, threats, strategies, and governance frameworks related to biodiversity conservation.

India prioritized the update of its NBSAP to align with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KM-GBF). This involved extensive consultations and collaboration among stakeholders to establish National Biodiversity Targets (NBTs) that reflect the nation’s ecological, social, and economic context. The updated NBSAP comprises seven chapters focusing on contextual analysis, capacity-building strategies, financing mechanisms, and biodiversity monitoring frameworks.

Goals and Targets

The NBSAP outlines 23 National Biodiversity Targets that align with the KM-GBF’s global objectives. These targets focus on reducing threats to biodiversity, ensuring sustainable use of resources, and enhancing tools for implementation. Each target is linked to specific strategies aimed at promoting ecosystem resilience, species recovery, and sustainable management practices.

Overview of the updated NBSAP

The updated NBSAP is a vital roadmap to address the strategies to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030, with a longer-term vision of living in harmony with nature by 2050. India had adopted the ‘Whole-of-Government’ and ‘Whole-of-Society’ approach in updating its NBSAP. The updated NBSAP acknowledges environmental challenges and outlines strategies to address them through ecosystem restoration, species recovery programmes, and community-driven conservation efforts focusing on the restoration of degraded ecosystems, the protection of wetlands, and the sustainable management of marine and coastal areas.

India’s governance framework for biodiversity conservation is exemplified by the Biological Diversity Act of 2002 and its amendments of 2023. This framework includes a three-tier institutional structure comprising the National Biodiversity Authority, State Biodiversity Boards, and local Biodiversity Management Committees, ensuring effective implementation at all levels. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
 (MoEFCC) serves as the central agency responsible for coordinating biodiversity conservation efforts across India.

The NBSAP update was driven by an extensive consultative process, led by MoEFCC and involving 23 central Ministries, multiple Departments, State-level organizations, communities, and other stakeholders. The updated NBSAP aligns with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, setting 23 national biodiversity targets through an extensive consultative process involving diverse stakeholders.

The updated NBSAP emphasizes the adoption of a transformative approach and focuses on an ecosystem-based management approach, a bottom-up approach for implementation, mainstreaming biodiversity, sectoral integration, and inter-agency cooperation. It also provides insight into the current status of biodiversity across India and trends therein, existing policy and institutional framework, biodiversity expenditure, and potential biodiversity finance solutions.

Full document of Updated National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (2024-2030)