National Biodiversity Strategy Action Plan
Major features of National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan
The general objectives of the National Policy on Biodiversity are: to sustainably use renewable resources, to develop institutional capacity for the management of biological resources, to integrate the conservation agenda into the national development agenda, to equitably share benefits arising from biological diversity, and to take all necessary actions to achieve these goals. On the other hand, the objectives of the National Biodiversity Action Plan include evaluating national capacity, identifying gaps and proposing actions to close them, developing activities in priority areas, identifying roles and responsibilities of the various stakeholders, and increasing public awareness and stakeholder involvement. The programmes of the biodiversity action plan are divided into two phases: the foundation phase and the consolidation phase. The foundation phase stresses priority interventions that are essential in laying the foundation for sustainable biodiversity planning and management, whereas the consolidation phase will be defined based on the findings of the evaluation of phase I programmes. A total of 33 actions are outlined for these programmes, which are given a time frame of either 1-2 years, 3-5 years, or more than 5 years. Apart from these actions, 20 additional recommendations are given on topics such as the identification of the components of biodiversity, inland aquatic and marine biodiversity, and biosafety. It is specified that all planning and management efforts should be based on four approaches, which are the participatory approach, adaptive planning, the ecosystem approach and the precautionary principle.
