India Submits 7th National Report to Convention on Biological Diversity

India has submitted its 7th National Report to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), presenting a comprehensive assessment of the country’s progress toward global biodiversity goals for 2030.

The report, prepared by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), is India’s official submission under the CBD, which requires member countries to periodically report on actions taken, progress achieved, and challenges faced in biodiversity conservation.

Global Biodiversity Framework

This report is the first full progress review since the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) in 2022.

The KMGBF outlines 23 global biodiversity targets to be achieved by 2030, including:

• Conserving 30% of the world’s land and oceans
• Restoring degraded ecosystems
• Reducing pollution levels
• Controlling invasive species
• Halting human-induced species extinction

India’s report evaluates national progress against 23 national biodiversity targets aligned with these global goals.

Updated National Biodiversity Strategy

India has updated its National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) to align fully with the KMGBF framework.

The revised strategy includes:

• 23 national biodiversity targets
• 142 indicators to track progress.

Key Achievements Highlighted

The report highlights several important conservation achievements:

• Forest and tree cover: 827,357 sq km, accounting for 25.17% of India’s geographical area
• Forest carbon stock: 7,285.5 million tonnes, an increase of about 81.5 million tonnes from the previous assessment

Under the Bonn Challenge, India has pledged to restore 26 million hectares of degraded land by 2030. According to the report, 24.1 million hectares have already been restored or are under restoration.

Wildlife Conservation Progress

The report also notes positive trends in several key species:

• Population of Bengal tiger in India stands at 3,167, showing continued recovery.
• Numbers of Asiatic lion have increased in recent years.
• Populations of the Indian one-horned rhinoceros remain stable or are growing.

Source: DTE