LEX-FAOC112045

The National Biodiveristy Action Plan (NBAP) is India’s first national cross-sectoral plan that entered into force in 2008. The NBAP is India’s response to its international commitments under the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD). The NBAP will seek to strengthen and integrate in situ, on-farm and ex situ conservation; ensure augmentation of natural resources based and its sustainable utilization by ensuring inter- and intra- generational equity; develop regulation of introduction of invasive alien species and their management; integrate biodiversity concerns in economic and social development; develop and integrate biodiversity databases; strengthen implementation of policy, legislative and administrative measures for biodiversity conservation and management; build national capacities for biodiversity conservation and appropriate use of new technologies; provide valuation of goods and services provided by biodiversity, and use of economic instruments in decision making processes; and further promote international cooperation. The NBAP will seek to integrate wetland conservation, including conservation of village ponds and tanks, into sectoral development plans for poverty alleviation and livelihood improvement, and link efforts for conservation and sustainable use of wetlands with the ongoing rural infrastructure development and employment generation programmes. The NBAP will seek to review enabling policies to prevent transfer of prime agricultural land to non-agricultural purposes, and promote sustainability of agricultural lands; and promote organic farming of traditional crop varieties through research in and dissemination of techniques for reclamation of land with prior exposure to agricultural chemicals, facilitating marketing of organic produce in India and abroad, including by development of transparent, voluntary and science-based labeling schemes. The NBAP will seek to assess vulnerability and adaptation to climate change, and desertification; survey and develop a national inventory of toxic and hazardous waste dumps, and an online monitoring system for movement of hazardous wastes; strengthen capacity of institutions responsible for monitoring and enforcement in respect of toxic and hazardous wastes; and minimize pollution impacts. Governance – The implementation of the NBAP will involve the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and Ministries of the Government of India that have been identified. Local-level institutions are crucial for the implementation of the NBAP, and a multitier mechanism for implementation will be used.