National Mission on Biodiversity and Human Well-Being

The National Mission on Biodiversity and Human Well-Being is an ambitious initiative that aims to bring biodiversity and conservation to the forefront of Indian science, policy, and society’s attention. The Mission has been visualized to be as inclusive as possible, with components that involve scientific institutions, government agencies, and non-government organizations at the national, state, and local levels. The people who will power the Mission will include scientists, farmers, industrialists, students, policy makers, and citizens from all walks of life.     

Global studies currently indicate that India has one of the largest ecological footprints in the world, and unprecedented changes in social, economic, and environmental systems in India are threatening its biodiversity. Without intervention at this stage, India could stand to lose a chunk of its biodiversity.

India’s people benefit from its biodiversity in so many ways – it affects the food they eat and their health and provides protection from natural disasters – and this is exemplified in how biodiversity is interwoven in many of our land’s cultural practices. From an economic standpoint, the natural services associated with biodiversity provided by India’s forests alone, are valued at a whopping ₹128 trillion/year. Yet, biodiversity science and its links to human well-being in India largely remain unexplored and neglected. Only a small part of India’s immense human population knows about the role and importance of biodiversity in its lives.

To address this lacuna, a group of scientists from several institutions have created a framework for an ambitious national initiative – the National Mission on Biodiversity and Human Well-Being. In October 2018, an outline of the Mission and its objectives were presented to the Prime Minister’s Science, Technology, and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC), and the Mission was approved in principle.