The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) COP16 in Cali, Colombia, received India’s revised National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan on Thursday, with the two main areas of emphasis, “area-based conservation” and “agrobiodiversity”. In addition, the emphasis also lies on meeting 23 national biodiversity targets that correspond with international targets.
The primary goal of area-based conservation is creating and maintaining protected areas. According to CBD, “Protected areas are the cornerstone of biodiversity protection. They aid in the preservation of important habitats, varied ecosystems, refugees, migration, and evolutionary processes. According to the action plan, which is more than 200 pages long, “two state-driven models, including protected areas and managed forests, have been highly effective in achieving conservation goals in human-dominated landscapes”. Agrobiodiversity is the other main area of emphasis.
In recent years, India has advocated for tree plantations that farmers and individuals might adopt. One of the places where Vavilov originated his agricultural plants and domestications was India. In addition to identifying 15 agro-climatic zones around the nation, the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Authority has designated 22 agrobiodiversity hotspots based on the number of species, crop varieties, and wild relatives of cultivated crop species. The plan claims that some 168 agricultural species, including 25 important and minor crops, have been domesticated.
According to the report, protecting marine, wetland, coastal, genetic diversity, biosafety, and ecodevelopment are all crucial conservation areas that need immediate attention. Among India’s 23 national biodiversity targets are the following: preserving 30% of its land; guaranteeing the rights, participation, and justice of indigenous peoples, and local communities, women, youth with disabilities, and environmental defenders; facilitating sustainable consumption choices and cutting food waste in half; incorporating multiple biodiversity values into decision-making at all levels; distributing benefits of genetic resources, digital sequence information, and related tradition knowledge in a fair and equitable manner; cutting pollution and having the risk of nutrient loss and pesticides; and bringing in invasive alien species by 50%.
National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) have been successfully updated in India; nonetheless, the complex plan needs a suitable implementation architecture. According to the plan, among the other things, it must improve mechanisms and instruments for biodiversity research, monitoring, capacity building, resource mobilization, and access and benefit sharing, through which, raising funds will be crucial.
The Biodiversity Expenditure Review research reviewed the current initiatives of two departments and 21 key ministries. The research predicted that the average annual attributable biodiversity expenditure for FY 2017–18 to FY 2021–22 will be ₹32, 207 crores. Currently, the investment is anticipated to quadruple implementing the new national biodiversity plan. The paper estimates that the central government will need to invest ₹81,664 crore (816,648.80 million) annually on average to implement the modified NBSAP till 2029–2030. In 1999, India formulated its initial biodiversity action plan as a national strategy.
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