Context:

India released an updated National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) at the 16th Conference of Parties (COP 16) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

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• The document was released during a special event called ‘Roadmap for achieving the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) targets and release of India’s updated NBSAP’.
• India’s updated NBSAP employs the ‘Whole-of-Government’ and ‘Whole-of-Society’ approach, addressing environmental challenges through ecosystem restoration and species recovery. 
• The updated NBSAP emphasizes the adoption of a transformative approach and focuses on an ecosystem-based management approach, a bottom-up approach for implementation, and mainstreaming biodiversity. 

National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) (2024-2030) 

• NBSAPs outline a country’s plan on how to protect and restore nature. NBSAPs mobilise action across the board and secure funding for biodiversity recovery.
• Article 6 of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) requires contracting Parties to develop an NBSAP (or an equivalent instrument), and to integrate conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity into sectoral and cross-sectoral activities. 
• NBSAP outlines 23 national targets aligned with the 23 global goals set under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KM-GBF).
• The goal of NBSAP is to protect at least 30% of its terrestrial, inland water, and coastal and marine areas by 2030, in line with global biodiversity targets. 
• The first National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) came into existence in 1999.

Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)

• The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD), also known as the Biodiversity Convention, is a legally binding treaty that aims to protect biodiversity globally.
• It was signed at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), also known as the 'Earth Summit', which was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June 1992.

CBD came into force in December 1993 aftermath of the 'Earth Summit’. It has 3 main objectives:

• The conservation of biological diversity.
• The sustainable use of the components of biological diversity.
• The fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources.

India became a Party to the CBD in 1993 and prepared its first NBAP entitled “National Policy and Macro Level Action Strategy on Biodiversity” in 1999.  

Two Protocols have been adopted so far under the aegis of CBD:

• The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety: It was adopted in 2000 as an international agreement to ensure the safe handling, transport and use of living-modified organisms (LMOs) resulting from modern biotechnology that may have adverse effects on biological diversity, taking also into account risks to human health. 
• Nagoya Protocol: It was adopted in 2010 in Nagoya, Japan at COP 10. It is based on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization (ABS).

COP meetings are held once in two years, the latest COP 15 was held in Montreal, Canada in 2022.

The eleventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 11) was held in Hyderabad, India in 2012.