Pariksha SaathiIndia's National Statement at CBD COP-17 in Yerevan, Armenia: Minister says India's updated NBSAP translates the Global Biodiversity Framework into 23 national targets and 142 indicators
Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav delivered India's National Statement at the High-Level Segment of the 17th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP-17) in Yerevan, Armenia, on 27 October 2026, and reaffirmed India's commitment to conserving biodiversity. He said that implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) must be aligned with national priorities, circumstances and legislation, and supported by adequate and predictable finance, capacity-building and technology transfer from developed countries. India also supports benefit-sharing from digital sequence information on genetic resources through the multilateral mechanism, including the Cali Fund, and the Minister advocated a science-based, risk-proportionate and precautionary approach to synthetic biology and biosafety. He informed that India's updated National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) translates the GBF into 23 National Biodiversity Targets and 142 indicators. The Minister said that India has 1,134 Protected Areas, 103 Ramsar sites, 57 Biodiversity Heritage Sites and 18 Biosphere Reserves, including 13 under UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere Network, and he referred to the International Big Cat Alliance, which is advancing international cooperation for the conservation of the world's seven big-cat species and their habitats, to Mission LiFE and Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam, and to MISHTI for mangrove restoration, Amrit Dharohar for wetland conservation and the Soil Health Card Scheme. He added that India has aligned its legislation with the Convention and established village-level committees for decentralised access and benefit sharing, and that India would continue to work with all Parties to advance the GBF in the spirit of 'One Earth, One Family, One Future'.
Drafted with AI assistance from the official PIB release linked above and checked against it by a second AI pass. Not line-edited by a human.
Learning context
According to a PIB backgrounder of June 2026, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) is an international agreement adopted in December 2022 by 196 Parties at COP15 of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Montreal, Canada, to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030 and achieve a vision of 'living in harmony with nature' by 2050. India's updated National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP 2024-2030), which translates global biodiversity commitments into national priorities, is aligned with the KMGBF. An earlier agreement under the CBD, the Nagoya Protocol - a legally binding supplementary agreement adopted at COP-10 in Nagoya, Japan, in October 2010 - ensures the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilisation of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge. In India, the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 (amended in 2023) is the principal legal framework for biodiversity. It provides a three-tier structure: the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) at the national level, State Biodiversity Boards and Union Territory Biodiversity Councils at the state and UT level, and Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs), which prepare People's Biodiversity Registers (PBRs), at the local level.
Check yourself: where and when was the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework adopted, and which agreement under the CBD, adopted at COP-10, deals with sharing the benefits of genetic resources?
At COP15 of the CBD in Montreal, Canada, in December 2022 (by 196 Parties); the Nagoya Protocol (October 2010).
Revision task: from this release, note where the Minister delivered India's statement at CBD COP-17, what India said about implementing the GBF, the numbers of National Biodiversity Targets and indicators in the updated NBSAP and the Protected Area, Ramsar site, Biodiversity Heritage Site and Biosphere Reserve counts he gave; from the note, when and where the KMGBF was adopted and its 2030 and 2050 aims, the Nagoya Protocol and the three tiers under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002.
Test yourself
In which city did Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav deliver India's National Statement at the High-Level Segment of the 17th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP-17) on 27 October 2026?
Show the answer
Answer: Yerevan, Armenia
Bhupender Yadav delivered India's National Statement at the High-Level Segment of CBD COP-17 in Yerevan, Armenia, and appreciated the Government of Armenia for hosting the seventeenth meeting of the CBD. He informed that India's updated National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan translates the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework into 23 National Biodiversity Targets and 142 indicators.
Read the daily collection → · Editorial standards & corrections