Kerala formulates biodiversity strategy to achieve ecological sustainability by 2035

The Kerala State Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan 2025-23, formulated by the Kerala State Biodiversity Board (KSBB), lays out a comprehensive road map to make the Kerala India’s most biodiverse-friendly State by 2035.

The plan presents a comprehensive framework built around eight strategic objectives including strengthening agrobiodiversity through the promotion of indigenous crop and livestock diversity, and conserving native breeds like Vechur cattle and Kuttanad ducks through genetic mapping and breed valorisation.

KSBB also hopes to leverage the State’s robust local self-government framework to drive biodiversity conservation and sustainable development.

Robust decentralisation

“Kerala’s success in addressing extreme poverty was made possible through its robust decentralisation through Panchayati Raj system and the transformative Kudumbasree Mission. The same model of grassroots empowerment will drive the community biodiversity governance in the state,” KSBB chairperson N. Anil Kumar says.

He added that Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) are operational in all 1,200 local governments across the State. He also highlighted two of KSBB’s flagship programmes, viz., She-Bio and ECASA (Every Child a Scientist and Artist), aimed at bringing women and youth to the forefront of biodiversity stewardship and innovation.

Human-wildlife coexistence

Some of the targeted actions for participatory forest ecosystem management include strengthening human-wildlife coexistence through early warning systems, regulating unscientific mining and quarrying, zoonotic disease prevention, conservation of rare, threatened and endemic species, enhancing forest carbon sink potential, and developing urban forests and green belts. The action plan also targets pioneering green budgeting at the local bodies-level.

As part of facilitating integrated coastal, marine and inland biodiversity management, the document recommends community-centric ecotourism guidelines. This involves developing biodiversity-sensitive tourism codes for coastal and wetland destinations, and ensuring carrying capacity assessments, waste audits and benefit-sharing with local communities.

City Biodiversity Index

The strategy also moots operationalising the City Biodiversity Index (CBI, also known as Singapore Index on Cities’ Biodiversity), a self-assessment tool developed by Singapore to evaluate and monitor the progress of biodiversity conservation efforts. It called for piloting the CBI in Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode to guide biodiversity planning and green infrastructure development.

To facilitate convergence and sustained action in implementing the action plan, the government has established a State-level steering committee, comprising senior secretaries from 11 key departments and institutions. In addition, a virtual biodiversity cadre with officials from 21 line departments and District Biodiversity Coordination Committees is expected to ensure decentralised implementation and monitoring.