NEW DELHI: Union Minister of State for Environment, Forests and Climate Change Kirti Vardhan Singh delivered the national statement regarding the conservation of biological resources in the High Level Segment of the ongoing 16th meeting of the Conference of Parties (CoP) to the Convention on Biological Diversity, in Cali, Colombia.

Singh congratulated Susana Muhamad, Minister of Environment of Colombia on taking over the COP Presidency from the longest serving COP President Huang Runqiu of China.

Speaking on the occasion, Singh said that India has a rich culture and tradition of worshipping Mother Earth and of living in harmony with Nature. India is one of the world’s 17 Mega-diverse rich Nations housing four out of the 36 globally recognised biodiversity Hotspots. He said, “To honour Mother Earth as we honour our own Mothers, our Prime Minister this year launched a nation-wide tree plantation campaign ‘Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam’ or ‘Plant4Mother’ on the occasion of World Environment Day in our collective efforts to restore and protect our biodiversity.”

The Minister highlighted that ‘Peace with Nature’ has been part of India’s rich cultural heritage since ancient the Vedic age. The theme resonates with India’s mission of ‘Lifestyle for the Environment (LiFE)” an India led Global mass movement for adopting environment friendly lifestyles.

India has taken significant step in global wildlife conservation by establishing the International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA) aimed at protecting the world's seven major big cat species, as their presence is indicative of a healthy ecosystems and rich biodiversity, Singh informed.

The Minister said that India’s efforts in rejuvenating our sacred river Ganga through ‘Namami Gange’ Mission was duly recognized by United Nations as one of the top 10 World Restoration Flagships to revive the riverine ecosystem. He informed that India's Ramsar sites has risen from 26 to 85 since 2014 and this number is shortly going to reach 100.

Singh reiterated that India adopted a ‘Whole of Government’ and ‘Whole of Society’ approach while updating the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) with its targets aligned with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF). He said that the Ministry would be releasing updated NBSAP on 30.10.2024 at Cali.

The Minister said that it is necessary to provide means of implementation including financial resources, as laid down in target 19 of the KMGBF as well as from DSI, for implementation of the NBSAP. Lot of ground needs to be covered in providing easily accessible means of implementation i.e. financial resources, technology and capacity building needs with the requisite Speed, Scope and Scale.  

Singh concluded by re-iterating India’s commitment towards protecting its own as well as global biodiversity for the present and future generations, in the true spirit of ‘Vasudhaiv Kutubakam - One Earth, One Family, One Future’.