The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, the National Biodiversity Authority, and the United Nations Development Programme have collaborated on the India Biodiversity Awards. The first India Biodiversity Awards were declared collectively by the MoEFCC and the UNDP in 2012 during the high-level session of the Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity’s Eleventh Gathering. It is a novel tool for identifying and acknowledging the contributions of people, populations, and organizations to biodiversity conservation, sustainable biological resource use, value sharing, and biodiversity governance.
Categories:
1.1 Conservation of wild species: The award honors an institution’s efforts to conserve native animals, manage their ecosystems, and restore their habitats in accelerating prevalence of endangered species
1.2Conservation of domesticated species: In this category, there will be two awards: one for an individual and one for an organisation for their achievements in domesticated species conservation by successful habitat management that results in a significant reduction in threat levels.
2. Sustainable Use of Biological Resources: Efforts to ensure the long-term utilization of ecological resources and effective natural resource conservation are lauded. Individuals and organisations will each receive one award in this category.
3. Replicable Mechanisms for Access and Benefit Sharing: The award is intended to recognize individuals or organizations whose initiatives enhanced notable monetary and/or non-monetary equal distribution of benefits arising from the use of biological capital with communities and stakeholders.
4. Best Biodiversity Management Committee: In this category, there will be only one award. This award honors Biodiversity Management Committees for their outstanding efforts in documenting biological resources and related traditional expertise, raising awareness, and establishing best practices in biodiversity conservation, environmental use, social and gender equality, and equitable benefit sharing.
