New Delhi: India has introduced an ambitious update to its National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP), pledging to protect 30% of its terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems by 2030. This goal is part of the global Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KM-GBF), adopted in 2022 at the 15th UN Biodiversity Conference in Canada, which emphasizes protecting global biodiversity and restoring essential ecosystems. As one of the world’s 17 megadiverse nations, India hosts approximately 7-8% of recorded global species within only 2.4% of the world’s landmass. India’s NBSAP update reflects a strong commitment to sustainable conservation, addressing both ecosystem degradation and biodiversity loss.
India’s 23 national targets under the updated NBSAP are structured around three key themes:
Reducing Threats to Biodiversity: This theme includes goals to address major threats like habitat conversion, pollution, invasive species, and climate change. The plan also aims to restore degraded habitats and protect species, ensuring sustainable management practices across ecosystems.
Sustainable Use and Fair Benefit Sharing: With five targets, this theme aims to support livelihoods of rural communities reliant on ecosystems, such as farmers and forest dwellers, and to enhance access to green spaces for urban areas. It focuses on sustainably managing agriculture, fisheries, and forests, while promoting fair sharing of the benefits of biodiversity.
Implementation Tools and Solutions: This theme includes targets to integrate biodiversity into national development frameworks, promoting eco-friendly lifestyles, reducing waste, and shifting harmful subsidies. It also stresses inclusive planning that considers gender equality, skill development, and resource mobilization.
Notably, Target 3 of the NBSAP prioritizes ecosystem restoration, with plans to expand Protected Areas and Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures (OECMs) to cover 30% of India’s land and water. Meanwhile, Target 16 addresses overconsumption, with initiatives like Mission Life promoting sustainable living.
This action plan reaffirms India’s alignment with the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), to which it has been a party since 1994, reinforcing commitments to sustainable biodiversity use and conservation through regular reporting on progress.
