On September 24, 2020, Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), Prakash Javadekar represented India at the virtual Ministerial Roundtable Dialogue on Biodiversity Beyond 2020. The meeting was held to exchange views on Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Development. The meeting was hosted by China.
i.The Dialogue was conducted on the topic of Biodiversity Beyond 2020: Building a Shared Future for All Life on Earth.
ii.The meeting is being hosted, ahead of the upcoming United Nation Summit on Biodiversity which is going to be held on 30 September 2020.
iii.15Ministers from different countries participated in the Roundtable Dialogue.Prakash Javadekar called all countries to join hands at the start of the “UN Decade of Action and Delivery for Sustainable Development”.
iv.The 15th Conference of Parties (COPs) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is scheduled to be held in 2021 at Kunming, China.
Key Points:
i.The Ministered highlighted the steps taken by India in Biodiversity Conservation such as
- Hosting Two COPs in the span of one year.
- Hosting United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) COPs in September 2019 and Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) COP in February 2020.
ii.The Minister also pointed out that despite having just 2.4% of Land Area, India accounts for nearly 8% of the recorded species, while supporting 18% of the human population and cattle population.
iii.India has also forest cover to nearly 25% of the total land area.
Land-degradation neutrality:
i.India is aiming to restore 26 million hectares of degraded land and is seeking to achieve land-degradation neutrality by 2030.
ii.India has a network of 250 thousand Biodiversity Management Committees across the country and 1,70, 000 People’s Biodiversity Registers for documentation of Biodiversity.
Doubling Tiger Population:
India has the highest number of Tigers in the wild, and has doubled the number ahead of the deadline of 2020.
Recent Related News:
i.On August 25, 2020, ReNew Power and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) signed a partnership agreement to promote increased access to renewable energy and improved energy efficiency.
ii.On August 26, 2020, the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Ministry of Finance in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) India launched the Sustainable Finance Collaborative (SFC).
About United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP):
Executive Director – Inger Andersen
Headquarters – Nairobi, Kenya
