India releases updated National Biodiversity Strategic Action Plans at Cali

 By Malini Shankar

Digital Discourse Foundation

Cali, Colombia 30.10.2024

While the juggernaut rolls on towards the curtains, India today unveiled its updated National Biodiversity Strategic Action Plans at the Asia Pacific Pavilion in the 16th Conference of Parties of the United Nations' Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD) in Cali today. India’s Minister of State in the Ministry of Environment, Ecology, Forests and Climate Change, Kirthi Vardhan Singh presented to the Convention on Biological Diversity’s Executive Director Astrid Schumacher the updated targets under National Biodiversity Strategic Action Plans.

These include:

1.       Integrated Land and Sea Use Planning

2.       Ecosystem Restoration

3.       Conserve Biodiversity in all ecosystems

4.       Manages species and genetic diversity

5.       Sustainable trade and harvest of wild species

6.       Manage invasive alien species

7.       Reduce Pollution Risks

8.       Mitigate Climate Change Impacts

9.       Sustainable use of wild species

10.   Sustainable management of agriculture and fisheries

11.   Enhance ecosystem services and regulate quality.

12.   Increase access to green and blue spaces.

13.   Access and Benefit sharing

14.   Mainstream Biodiversity

15.   Sustainable Production and Risk disclosure

16.   Promote sustainable consumption

17.   Strengthen biosafety regulations

18.   Repurpose harmful incentives

19.   Resource mobilisation

20.   Capacity Building and Cooperation

21.   Enhance Communication and Awareness

22.   Equitable participation in decision making.

23.   Promote gender equality in decision making

Speaking on the occasion Secretary of (CBD) in Ministry Of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Tanmay Kumar said India is a mega diverse country with four Biodiversity Hotspots and India hosts 8% of the recorded species. Kumar said India ratified the CBD back in 1994, barely two years after Rio Earth Summit; that India has pioneered legislation and policy guidelines as well as implementation. The Biodiversity Act, Biodiversity Action Plan, Biodiversity Committee have all been put in place as per the CBD. Kumar also announced that “India has established Traditional Knowledge Digital Library” … which complements state biodiversity registries and conforms to Digital Sequencing Implementation mandate of the Convention on Biological Diversity.

Executive director of the Convention on Biological Diversity Ms. Astrid Schumacher said “the world will look forward to learning from the traditions documented by the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library”.

Dr. Balaji a senior scientist at the National Biodiversity Authority said “ Biodiversity conservation being a multi-disciplinary domain involves various line ministries and departments …”Agriculture, Science and Technology, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj…are all part of the NBSAPs”. Director of WWF India Mrs. Vishesh delivered the keynote address.   

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Questions for seismologists and USGS

Image
  Digital   Discourse   Foundation   By Malini Shankar In the wake of the Turkey Syria earthquake of 6 th February 2023 it has emerged that a Dutch scientist had forecast the seismic event just four days prior to the earthquake based on planetary alignment. If planetary alignment belongs to the realm of astrology or astronomy can best be left to the advocates of empirical facts for scientific documentation. But scientific facts like planetary alignment, lunar cycles, shooting stars, meteor showers, ionic content in the atmosphere, seismic pressure accumulation, and measurement thereof, are all easy to document. Why then are these phenomena not being documented by the scientific or seismological community to forecast geological calamities?   Let us go by facts alone… I hope it appeases the scientific community to lead them into desperately needed earthquake forecasting. The Great Andaman Sumatra Earthquake that triggered a massive ocean wide tsunami on 26...
Read more
Image
  DDF Editorial The Wyanad landslide was bereft of a Disaster Mitigation blueprint The landslide triggered by flash floods in Kerala’s Wyanad district  on the intervening night of 30 th – 31 st July is not just  a  manifestation  of Climate Change, but a human made disaster triggered by a state  of  policy paralysis.  While the Home Minister announced in both Houses of Parliament t hat early warnings had repeatedly been sounded (ostensibly for  the S tate Government to act on it), was received  skeptically. Opposition Parties and some Members of Parliament  have issued Breach of Privilege notice to the Speaker seeking action  against the Home Minister for what they perceive as the Home Minister  lying to Parliament. Politics aside, early warnings issued by nodal agencies like  say  Indian  Meteorological Department or the Central Water  Commission, Indian National Centre for Ocean Information...
Read more

Who wouldn't like to share benefits? But its about Sharing of Benefits from Common Property Resources and global Biological Heritage

  By Malini Shankar, Digital Discourse Foundation In the first part of the curtain raiser series we tried to comprehend the basic meaning and significance of Biodiversity that is at the heart of benefit sharing mechanisms of the Nogoya Protocol for instance. It is the attempt to protect Common Property Resources sustainably by the UNCBD or United Nations’ Convention on Biological Diversity. Today let’s try to figure the need for its governance.  "The Conference encompasses the 16th Meeting of the Conference of Parties serving as the meeting of parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, and the fifth meeting of the Conference of Parties to the Nagoya Protocol on access to genetic resources, and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits from their Utilisation. It will include a high level ministerial segment." According to the official website of the UNCBD COP 16 Let us understand by example. The Kani tribes in Kerala shared a patent with the Tropical Botanical Garde...
Read more