Discuss the aim and goals of Kunming-Montreal global biodiversity framework. Mention India’s commitments and initiatives to achieve the goals and targets of this framework giving suitable examples.

What it is

The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework was adopted at COP15 of the Convention on Biological Diversity in Montreal in December 2022, under China's presidency. It replaced the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, none of which had been fully met, and it is the biodiversity counterpart to the Paris Agreement.

Aim and structure

• 2050 Vision: "Living in harmony with nature" — biodiversity valued, conserved, restored and wisely used by 2050.
• 2030 Mission: to take urgent action to halt and reverse biodiversity loss, putting nature on a path to recovery.
• Four long-term goals for 2050: A, protecting ecosystem integrity and halting human-induced extinction; B, sustainable use and valuation of nature's contributions; C, fair and equitable sharing of benefits from genetic resources and digital sequence information; D, adequate means of implementation, closing the finance gap.
• 23 action-oriented targets for 2030.

The headline targets

• Target 3 — the "30 by 30" target. Conserve at least 30 per cent of terrestrial, inland water, coastal and marine areas by 2030, respecting indigenous and traditional territories.
• Target 2. Restore at least 30 per cent of degraded ecosystems.
• Target 18. Identify and reform or eliminate harmful subsidies by at least 500 billion dollars a year.
• Target 19. Mobilise at least 200 billion dollars a year from all sources, including 30 billion a year in international flows to developing countries by 2030.
• Target 7. Halve nutrient loss and reduce pesticide risk by half.
• Target 6. Reduce the introduction of invasive alien species by at least 50 per cent.
• The Cali Fund, agreed at COP16, operationalises benefit-sharing from digital sequence information.

India's commitments and initiatives

• Updated NBSAP. India released its revised National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan aligned to the framework, with 23 national targets mapped to the global ones.
• Protected area network. Over 1,000 protected areas covering around 5.3 per cent of the geographical area, extended by OECMs — other effective area-based conservation measures — which is how sacred groves, community forests and conservation reserves count towards Target 3.
• Species programmes. Project Tiger, Project Elephant, Project Lion, Project Dolphin and the Cheetah reintroduction at Kuno.
• Wetlands. The Ramsar network expanded substantially, with the Amrit Dharohar initiative on wetland conservation and community livelihoods.
• Restoration. Bonn Challenge pledge of 26 million hectares by 2030, Green India Mission, and mangrove restoration under MISHTI.
• Legal and institutional. The Biological Diversity (Amendment) Act, 2023, National Biodiversity Authority, State Boards and Biodiversity Management Committees with People's Biodiversity Registers.
• Coastal and marine. Coastal regulation, the Blue Economy framing, and coral restoration programmes.

Assessment

• The framework's weakness is the same as Aichi's: targets are politically agreed and nationally implemented, with no compliance mechanism.
• India's protected-area coverage is well short of 30 per cent, which makes the OECM route decisive rather than supplementary.
• Finance is the live dispute; developing-country flows remain below the Target 19 pathway.
• Harmful-subsidy reform under Target 18 is politically the hardest, since it touches fertiliser, fuel and fisheries support.

Conclusion

The framework is a clearer, more measurable successor to Aichi with a genuine financing target, and India's response has been architecturally serious — an aligned NBSAP, an OECM strategy and a restoration pledge. Whether it succeeds depends on OECM recognition at scale and on international finance materialising, neither of which is settled.