India’s new biodiversity strategy aims to protect 30% of ecosystems and restore degraded habitats by 2030

India has launched its updated Biodiversity Action Plan, aiming to protect at least 30 percent of its terrestrial, inland water, coastal and marine areas by 2030, in line with global biodiversity goals.

The updated National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP), unveiled at the 16th UN Biodiversity Conference in Cali, Colombia, outlines 23 national targets aligned with the 23 global targets set out in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KM-GBF) , which was adopted at the 15th UN Biodiversity Conference in Canada in 2022.

A key goal of the KM-GBF is to protect at least 30 percent of the world’s land and ocean area by 2030. It also aims to restore degraded ecosystems, such as forests, wetlands and rivers, to ensure they continue to provide essential resources. such as clean water and air.

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Recognized as one of the 17 megadiverse countries, India became a party to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 1994. It is home to 7 to 8 percent of the world’s recorded species on just 2.4 percent of the global land area.

According to the updated NBSAP, India spent around ₹32,200 crore on biodiversity protection, conservation and restoration between 2017-2018 and 2021-2022. The projected annual average expenditure on biodiversity conservation during 2029-2030 is estimated at ₹81,664.88 crore.

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India has set its biodiversity targets in three main areas. The first theme, ‘Reducing Threats to Biodiversity’, includes eight objectives. The first five targets directly address the major threats to biodiversity: land and sea use change, pollution, species overuse, climate change and invasive alien species.

The other three objectives focus on restoring ecosystems, managing species and genetic diversity, and ensuring the legal, sustainable use of wild species.

The second theme, “Meeting people’s needs through sustainable use and benefit sharing,” includes five objectives for the sustainable management of agriculture, livestock, fisheries and forests.

These areas are critical to the livelihoods of rural communities, including farmers, herders, fishermen, tribals and forest dwellers. These objectives also cover the sustainable use of wild species, the management of ecosystem services, better access to green spaces for urban residents, fair sharing of biodiversity benefits and encouraging public support for nature conservation.

The third theme of ‘Tools and Solutions for Implementation’ includes ten objectives aimed at integrating biodiversity into broader development goals, promoting sustainable production and consumption, reducing waste and repurposing harmful subsidies, building skills, sharing of knowledge, mobilizing resources and supporting inclusive, fair and gender-responsive planning and decision-making in biodiversity efforts.

Under National Biodiversity Goal 3, India aims to expand protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs) to cover 30 percent of the country’s landscapes. This objective emphasizes the crucial role of communities in conserving biodiversity while ensuring sustainable use.

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India’s National Biodiversity Target 2 recognizes widespread ecosystem degradation and aims to effectively restore at least 30 percent of degraded terrestrial, inland waters, coastal and marine ecosystems by 2030.

“Agricultural expansion, industrialization, linear infrastructure development, mining, urbanization and other development activities, coupled with the overexploitation of natural ecosystems by resource-dependent communities, especially post-independence, have led to large-scale degradation of ecosystems, reducing ecosystem services. they ever provided. This makes the target a top priority for targeted actions,” the NBSAP said.

Goal 16 of the NBSAP focuses on overconsumption and waste generation as root causes of biodiversity loss. India has launched Mission Life to encourage the adoption of an eco-friendly lifestyle.

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), adopted in 1992 to protect the world’s biodiversity, requires countries to establish an NBSAP, an important tool for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity at the national level.

Countries must also report their progress every four years through national reports.