The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) with the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) and the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare (MoA&FW) partnered with FAO for the implementation of a Technical Cooperation Programme (TCP) project on “Strengthening Agriculture and Allied Sector Contribution to India’s National Biodiversity Action Plan (NBAP) 2008 and National Biodiversity Targets (NBTS) 2014”. The project was implemented through State Biodiversity Boards (SBBs) in the states of Punjab, Kerala and Mizoram through 2017-2019.

The concluding workshop for the project was held on December 16, 2019. In this workshop the FAO team and state partners presented key learning and outputs from the project. The team also presented a mainstreaming framework and strategy to effectively implement NBAP and achieve NBTs in the context of agrobiodiversity.

Dr. V. B. Mathur, Chairperson, National Biodiversity Authority appreciated FAO’s role in building capacity of the project states to support India commitment towards achieving the National Biodiversity Targets (NBTs). Dr. Sujit Kumar Bajpayee, Joint Secretary, MoEF&CC acknowledged that the TCP on mainstreaming biodiversity into agriculture would support the Government of India (GoI) with improved capacity at national, state and local levels. Dr Namita Priyadarshee, Joint Secretary, MoA&FW commended the project and hoped that the efforts made through this project will be upscaled.