Mainstreaming Biodiversity: the only potent tool to reach synergy between conservation and development
Dr. Atul Kumar Gupta, IFS (Retd.)

Each year, the 22nd
May is observed as the International Day for Biological Diversity to increase
understanding and awareness of biodiversity issues. This year's theme is 'Our
Biodiversity, Our Food, Our Health', aiming at spreading awareness of the
dependency of our food systems, nutrition and health on biodiversity and
healthy ecosystems. This theme also celebrates the diversity provided by our
natural systems for human existence and well-being on Earth. However, very
little is understood on this aspect by the masses thus leading to adverse
effects on mainstreaming biodiversity.
Mainstreaming
means 'integrating, as far as possible and as appropriate, the conservation and
sustainable use of biological diversity into relevant sectoral or
cross-sectoral plans, programmes and policies', which is mandatory as per
Article 6b of Convention to Biological Diversity (CBD) of which India is also
one of the signatories. The Global Environmental Facility Scientific and
Advisory Panel has defined mainstreaming biodiversity as "the process of
embedding biodiversity considerations into policies, strategies, and practices
of key public and private actors that impact or rely on biodiversity, so that
it is conserved and sustainable and equitably used both locally and globally." Mainstreaming refers to the inclusion of various conservation and sustainable
activities in strategies relating to production sectors, such as agriculture,
fisheries, forestry, tourism, mining, etc. It can also refer to including
biodiversity conservation in poverty reduction plans and national sustainable
development plans. Biodiversity conservation has been earlier considered the
domain of only environment sector along with its practice in certain areas.
However, with the ever-increasing threat to the environment due to the
practices in other production sectors, mainstreaming biodiversity into sectoral
strategies, plan and programmes is but mandatory for conserving biodiversity.
The
history of mainstreaming of biodiversity dates back since the days of the Earth
Summit (UNCED 1992) and Agenda 21, when the Ministry of Environment, Forests
and Climate Change (MoEFCC) launched the Environment Action Programme in 1993
aiming at improving the environmental services in India and facilitating
integration of environmental considerations in developmental programmes across
different sectors. The ethos of conservation, sustainable use, and fair and
equitable use of biological diversity are rooted in India's age-old
nature-based-living and rich spiritual and cultural traditions. This concept
was later institutionalized in India during the period between the Stockholm
Conference (June 1972) and the Earth Summit (June 1992), through various legal
and policy frameworks [Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972; Forest Conservation
Act, 1980; National Forest Policy, 1988; Joint Forest Management Resolution,
1991] for ensuring protection of environment, wildlife, and all other natural
resources in the country and also simultaneously addressing the issues of
poverty alleviation. This followed enactment of the Biological Diversity Act in
2002 with three-tiered institutional structure, namely, National Biodiversity
Authority (NBA) at the national level, State Biodiversity Boards (SBBs) at the
state level, and Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) at the local level.
This is one excellent example of attempting conservation through the provisions
of decentralized governance as contained in the Constitution.
The
Biological Diversity Act is a path-breaking and progressive legislation, which
has the potential to positively impact biodiversity conservation in the country
and mainstream through National Biodiversity and Strategic Action Plan (NBSAP).
The first such Plan was developed as National Policy and Macro Level Action
Strategy in 1999, which got revised in 2008 as NBAP following enactment of the
National Environment Policy (NEP) in 2006. In line with the 20 Aichi
Biodiversity Targets (2011-2020) adopted by the CBD in 2010, and 17 Global
Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 2015-2030, India too developed 12 National
Biodiversity Targets (NBTs) in 2014 and published as Addendum 2014 to NBAP
2008. At the state level, State Biodiversity and Strategy Action Plans (SBSAP)
help mainstream biodiversity with other sectoral programs and policies. The
State Governments need to prepare or revise SBSAPs in line with the NBAP and 12
National Biodiversity Targets and also develop a 'Resource Mobilization
Strategy' for its implementation.
For
mainstreaming, it is important to have an understanding of the relationship of
a specific sector (for example, agriculture, horticulture, fisheries, water
resources, urban development, animal husbandry, tribal welfare, etc.) to the
conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity as well as mechanisms, how
that sector impacts biodiversity; provides ecosystem services and can help
reach NBSAP/SBSAP goals through sector-specific tools. Further, there is a need
and ability to identify situations that benefit both biodiversity and the
sustainability of the specific sector.
Is it true
that certain public and private sectors are, by default, already engaged in
mainstreaming biodiversity by making expenditures through their varied schemes
and programs and thus indirectly helping achieve goals of biodiversity
conservation? If so, then, could this current 'by default' status be changed to 'by design' status by ensuring better utilization of such funds helping in
biodiversity conservation on one hand and meeting sector specific goals as well
without substitution and conflict? Such questions can be answered only if we
have a precise estimate of the amounts being currently spent on conserving
biodiversity in India across the sectors. A general understanding is that all
expenditures on biodiversity conservation are done only through the environment
sector and associated ministry and institutions. This understanding is based on
the premise that biodiversity conservation is a mandate only of environment
sector and it is not mainstreamed within the activities of other sectors. But,
is it true? The answer is 'NO'. This is evident from the result of a project
report of the UNDP initiated Global Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN)
Project in 2012, of which India became a party in 2015, where it is found that
a total of 125 schemes belonging to 26 Ministries and 31 Departments of the
Government of India have biodiversity conservation relevance and such
ministries and departments have already spent a total of 95,339.35 crores in
the year 2014-15 alone (Ansari, N.A., et al., 2018. Biodiversity Expenditure
Review (BER) at Central Government Level, India. Final Report, WII-UNDP
Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN) Project, Wildlife Institute of India,
Dehradun). This proves that many more departments and agencies both at the
Center and State levels and many private sectors are already engaged in
biodiversity conservation (unmindful though) and this is what is all about
mainstreaming. However, the only need is to make this process more inclusive by
transforming its current 'by default' status to 'by choice' status.
This year's theme of
Biological Diversity Day 'Our
Biodiversity, Our Food, Our Health' is a call for mainstreaming biodiversity
conservation in all our day-to-day activities we perform on both personal and
official fronts. Sustainablity need be ensured in all those acts to whichever
sector we belong or deal with by way of extracting only as per need and recoupe
with double the amount extracted. We have glaring examples of such communities,
especially in the northeastern India, who inhabit wilderness areas and have
mainstreamed all their acts in complete sync - neither adversely impacting nor
getting adversely impacted - with the Nature/biodiversity, which is the ONLY
source of life for them. More importantly, proactive mainstreaming biodiversity
into relevant sectoral or cross-sectoral plans, programmes and policies will
enrich those with enabling mitigation and adaptation measures to counter
looming threats of climate change. Let's
observe this day while also remembering a quote from the Father of the Nation
Mahatama Gandhi “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not
every man's greed".