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🔆 INDIA REAFFIRMS COMMITMENT TO GLOBAL BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION 📍 CBD COP-17 | Yerevan, Armenia 🔆 1. Key Highlights 🟢 Union Minister: 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. 🟢 India emphasised biodiversity conservation, science-based governance and living in harmony with nature. 🟢 Implementation of the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) must reflect national priorities, circumstances and legislation. 🟢 Developed countries should provide adequate and predictable finance, capacity-building and technology transfer. 🔆 2. India’s Biodiversity Conservation Framework 🟢 India’s updated National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) translates the KMGBF into 23 National Biodiversity Targets and 142 indicators. 🟢 India supports multilateral benefit-sharing from Digital Sequence Information (DSI) on genetic resources, including through the Cali Fund. 🟢 India advocates a science-based, risk-proportionate and precautionary approach to synthetic biology and biosafety. 🔆 3. India’s Conservation Statistics 🟢 1,134 Protected Areas 🟢 103 Ramsar Sites 🟢 57 Biodiversity Heritage Sites 🟢 18 Biosphere Reserves, including 13 under UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Network. 🔆 4. Major Indian Initiatives 🟢 International Big Cat Alliance: Promotes international cooperation to conserve the world’s seven big-cat species and their habitats. 🟢 MISHTI: Supports mangrove restoration. 🟢 Amrit Dharohar: Focuses on wetland conservation. 🟢 Mission LiFE: Promotes environmentally responsible lifestyles. 🟢 Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam: Encourages tree planting and environmental stewardship. 🟢 Soil Health Card Scheme: Supports sustainable soil management and soil fertility. 🔆 5. Governance & Community Participation 🟢 India has aligned its legislation with the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). 🟢 Village-level committees support decentralised access and benefit-sharing (ABS), enabling local communities to participate in and benefit from the sustainable use of biological resources. 🔆 WAY FORWARD 🟢 Ensure predictable biodiversity finance and technology transfer. 🟢 Strengthen community-led conservation and ecosystem restoration. 🟢 Improve implementation, monitoring and accountability under the KMGBF. 🟢 Balance biodiversity protection with national development priorities through science-based policymaking. 📍 UPSC Relevance: GS III | Biodiversity | Environmental Governance | International Conventions | Conservation Initiatives 🔆 MAINS QUESTION “Discuss the significance of the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework in strengthening global biodiversity governance. What challenges affect its implementation in developing countries like India?” (150 words) #Environment

🔆 Making India’s Food System Climate-Proof 📍 Why in News? 🟢 India’s food security gains are increasingly threatened by climate change, extreme weather, water scarcity and rising temperatures. 🟢 The policy challenge is shifting from merely producing enough food to ensuring affordable, nutritious and climate-resilient food security for India’s 1.4 billion people. 📍 India’s Food Security Journey 🟢 India moved from food-aid dependence in the 1960s to becoming a major food producer. 🟢 This transformation was supported by investments in seeds, irrigation, procurement, storage, price support and public distribution. 🟢 The National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013 created a legal entitlement to subsidised foodgrains for around 800 million people. 🟢 Foodgrain production crossed 350 million tonnes in 2024–25, including record rice and wheat output. 📍 Emerging Climate Risks 🟢 Heat stress reduces crop yields, particularly wheat. 🟢 Erratic monsoons cause floods and droughts within the same season. 🟢 Groundwater depletion weakens irrigation buffers. 🟢 Extreme weather can damage storage and transport infrastructure. 🟢 These disruptions increase market volatility and can affect access to nutritious food. 📍 Diversifying the Food Basket 🟢 India’s procurement remains concentrated in a few crops and geographies, creating resource and groundwater stress. 🟢 Procurement should progressively diversify across crops and regions based on local water and climate conditions. 🟢 Greater emphasis on millets, pulses, oilseeds and other nutri-cereals can reduce rice-wheat concentration and improve dietary diversity. 🟢 The PDS can support this transition by including locally appropriate millets and pulses. 📍 Climate Information & Technology 🟢 IMD forecasts can be integrated with procurement, buffer-stock and contingency decisions. 🟢 Climate-resilient seeds, micro-irrigation, watershed development and precision farming can reduce production risks. 🟢 Digital advisories and weather-indexed insurance can help farmers manage climate variability. 🟢 NFSA monitoring can incorporate indicators such as heat, water stress, storage exposure and supply-chain resilience. 📍 Climate-Resilient Food Supply Chain 🟢 Develop flood-resilient warehouses and storage systems suited to higher temperatures. 🟢 Expand cold chains and robust transport links for perishables. 🟢 Adaptation standards should cover procurement, storage, logistics and market stabilisation, not just production. 📍 Financing & Institutional Approach 🟢 Climate-resilient food systems require green bonds, adaptation finance, insurance and investment in resilient agricultural value chains. 🟢 Integrate food systems into India’s net-zero pathway through emission reduction, carbon sequestration and resilience targets. 🟢 Public-private collaboration can accelerate research, innovation and last-mile delivery. 🟢 Public safety nets must ensure that smallholders and climate-exposed regions are not left behind. 📍 Way Forward 🟢 Build a broader “climate buffer” by combining diversified crops and procurement regions with resilient infrastructure. 🟢 Strengthen climate information, insurance and water management. 🟢 Shift the national approach from “food security” towards “sustainable food security”. 🟢 Embed climate-risk management into NFSA planning and monitoring as a first-order consideration. 🎯 Mains Application India’s food security architecture must evolve from a production-centric model towards a climate-resilient system based on crop diversification, climate-smart agriculture, resilient supply chains and adaptive social protection. ✎ MAINS PRACTICE QUESTION “India has achieved food security, but climate change is challenging the sustainability of these gains.” Discuss the major vulnerabilities of India’s food system to climate change and suggest measures to build a climate-resilient food security framework. 15 marks · 250 words #Environment