Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav on Tuesday delivered India's National Statement at the High-Level Segment of the 17th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP17) in Yerevan, Armenia, reaffirming India's commitment to conserving biodiversity and living in harmony with nature.

Yadav called for implementing the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework in line with national priorities, circumstances and legislation, supported by adequate and predictable finance, capacity building and technology transfer from developed countries.

India also supports benefit-sharing from digital sequence information on genetic resources through the multilateral mechanism, including the Cali Fund, and advocates a science-based, risk-proportionate and precautionary approach to synthetic biology and biosafety, the Environment Ministry said.

India's updated National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan translates the global framework into 23 National Biodiversity Targets and 142 indicators. The country has 1,134 protected areas, 103 Ramsar sites, 57 Biodiversity Heritage Sites and 18 Biosphere Reserves, including 13 under UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere Network.

Yadav also highlighted domestic initiatives including MISHTI, Amrit Dharohar and Mission LiFE, and the International Big Cat Alliance, which advances international cooperation for the world's seven big-cat species and their habitats.

The conference, which began on 19 October, is the first global review of collective progress under the Kunming-Montreal framework, adopted in 2022. The framework aims to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030 and achieve a vision of living in harmony with nature by 2050.