New biodiversity conservation guidelines released in Armenia, this Rajasthan region also included

Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav released the 'Guidelines for the Designation of India's Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures (I-OECMs) 2026' on November 3, 2026, on the sidelines of the 17th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP-17) held in Yerevan, Armenia. The objective of this initiative is to promote biodiversity conservation outside legally protected areas.

Organized by the Ministry of Environment, the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the event was also attended by Armenia's Environment Minister and the Executive Secretary of the CBD. Union Minister Bhupender Yadav said that OECMs represent a new era in conservation approaches, effectively ensuring in-situ conservation of biodiversity through effective landscape management outside forests and protected areas.

Conditions for recognition and application process

These guidelines cover terrestrial, inland water, coastal, and marine ecosystems. Four mandatory conditions are required for recognition: the area must not be legally protected or reserved, management must be by the government or recognized local bodies, boundaries must be clear, and there should be no alteration in existing activities.

Applications can be submitted to the NBA by local self-governments and Biodiversity Management Committees. After preliminary scrutiny within 30 days, the NBA will forward the application to the concerned State Biodiversity Board, which will submit its recommendation within 30 days. A final decision will then be made, and evaluation will be conducted at least once every five years.

Six demonstration sites including Rajasthan included

The Government of India has launched a GEF-8 project to implement these guidelines, which will run from May 15, 2026, to May 15, 2032. Its total budget is 60.79 million US dollars. Under this project, six demonstration sites have been selected, which include the Kumbhalgarh-Mount Abu-Jaisalmer region in Rajasthan, the Gori Valley in Uttarakhand, the Satkosia-Kalahandi region in Odisha, the Srisailam-Kambam region in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, the Sahyadri-Konkan region in Maharashtra and Goa, and the marine region of the Lakshadweep islands.