Biodiversity, Monitoring and Conservation Planning

Human activities have significantly changed natural ecosystems, impacting biodiversity, interactions between species and ecosystem processes, with consequences for our well-being. Understanding and monitoring the responses of ecosystems and species to anthropogenic change is crucial for structuring our conservation strategies. This programme integrates numerous approaches to explore biodiversity and ecosystem-function maintenance by natural and social drivers, aiming to inform policymakers and conservationists to support conservation and restoration efforts essential for protecting biodiversity, ecosystem processes and human well-being.

Objectives

• Assess, describe, and monitor all forms of biodiversity in response to global change.
• Understand the factors that determine ecosystem structures and functions.
• Study human-wildlife interfaces and analyse the impact of human activities on biodiversity, wildlife behaviour, ecology and plant-animal interactions.
• Develop and maintain a comprehensive open-source database on India’s biodiversity to support conservation planning and action.
• Enhance connectivity of natural landscapes and study associated movement patterns of flora and fauna.
  
  

Research Questions

• What are the major factors responsible for long-term changes in wetlands, grasslands and forest ecosystems? How do they interact with global processes?
• In what ways do human interventions impact ecosystem functions and services?
• What socio-ecological factors enable the communities dependent on these ecosystems to respond and adapt to changes?
• What policy gaps hinder effective conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity?
• What are the primary obstacles to deploying models of sustainable agriculture that promote biodiversity? What policy framework changes are needed to overcome these obstacles
• What are the factors needed to create effective wildlife corridors? How can landscapes be made into functional corridors, especially in human dominated landscapes?

Alignment with India’s international commitments:

This programme will contribute to India meeting its commitments to:

• The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework 2022 (Targets 2, 3, 4, 11, 14)
• The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2018 (Targets 15.1, 15.3, 15.4, 15.5, 15.9)