India commits to protect 30% land, marine area in upgraded biodiversity plan

New Delhi: India on Wednesday launched its updated biodiversity action plan with a goal to protect at least 30% of its terrestrial, inland water, and coastal and marine areas and the loss of highly biodiverse areas is close to zero by 2030, in line with global biodiversity targets.

The updated National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP), unveiled at the 16th or the 2024 UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP16) in Cali, Colombia, outlines 23 national targets aligned with the 23 global goals set under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF), which was adopted at the 15th UN Biodiversity Conference in Canada in 2022.

A key goal of the KMGBF is to protect at least 30% of the world’s land and ocean areas by 2030. It also aims at restoring degraded ecosystems, such as forests, wetlands, and rivers, to ensure they continue providing essential resources like clean water and air.

Mint earlier reported that India was planning to release its national biodiversity targets at the 2024 UN Convention on Biological Diversity or CBD COP16, which took place between 21 October and 1 November in Colombia.

India, recognised as one of the 17 megadiverse countries, became a party to the CBD in 1994. It harbours about 7-8% of the world’s recorded species within just 2.4% 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 for biodiversity conservation through 2029-2030 is estimated to be ₹81,664.88 crore.

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

Through the biodiversity-inclusive planning for land and sea use, the country aims to implement effective usage of land and sea, such that the loss of highly biodiverse areas is “close to zero” by 2030. The report also stressed that this included ecosystem of high ecological integrity, and the plan will respect the rights of local communities.

For this, the plan outlines using high-resolution geospatial data to earmark rich, biodiverse areas and endangered ecosystems. Forest working plans are to be prepared for each, all streamlined and adhering to a national working plan. For India’s rich river basins, the focus will be on “integrated coastal management” that addresses issues at the connections between coastal areas, wetlands, and river systems through relevant policies and regulations.

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

Releasing the document Union Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Kirti Vardhan Singh stated that the updated NBSAP, aligned with the KMGBF, 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’s governance framework for biodiversity conservation, exemplified by the Biological Diversity Act of 2002 and its amendments of 2023.

The Minister further said that 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.

However, experts have a different view and say that actions do not match the targets.

“Biodiversity conservation is fundamentally tied to the protection of natural habitats, yet unsustainable development continues to erode these vital ecosystems,” Debadityo Sinha, lead- climate & ecosystems at Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy told Mint. 

“The Great Nicobar Island’s unique biodiversity and the critical habitats of the Great Indian Bustard in Rajasthan stand as stark reminders of the threats posed by unsustainable development despite warnings by experts about irreversible threats. Recent amendments to forest and wildlife laws have, unfortunately, further enabled such projects that disrupt these sensitive areas threatening the extinction of wildlife, especially outside wildlife sanctuaries and national parks which comprise hardly 6% of our geographic area. 

Regulatory protection

A significant amount of native and migratory species occurs outside these protected areas which lack regulatory protection. This is compounded by compensatory afforestation practices that often fail to consider local biodiversity, inadvertently causing greater harm to ecosystems and their services.”

“We must re-evaluate and strengthen our environmental legislation to ensure that it prioritises the conservation of biodiversity within its natural ecosystem, with a renewed emphasis on ecosystem restoration over plantations. Only with such reforms can we hope to safeguard our nation’s invaluable ecological heritage,” Sinha added.

India’s diverse topography and climatic conditions make it an ideal home to more than 55,000 plant taxa and over 100,000 species of animals, making the country a notable global biodiversity power.

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