ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability has initiated a project on mainstreaming biodiversity across city-regions in India, Brazil and Tanzania. The INTERACT-Bio: Integrated sub-national action for Biodiversity: Supporting implementation of National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans (NBSAP) through the mainstreaming of biodiversity objectives across City-Regions project is supported through the International Climate Initiative 2016 of Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB), Germany and the India chapter of the project is being facilitated by ICLEI- Local Governments for Sustainability, South Asia.

The overarching goal of the project is to support the attainment of Aichi Target 2, whilst contributing to other Aichi Targets, especially Target 1 and 17.

The project fosters synergies between climate protection and biodiversity by conserving and restoring ecosystems essential to achieving the overall goals of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The project aims to contribute to the vital role ecosystems play in the global carbon cycle and in adaptation to climate change, as well as the provision of a wide range of ecosystem services that are essential to human well-being and the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals 11, 14 and 15.

The objectives of the project are to strengthen the integration of biodiversity management as a cross-cutting task at all these levels and to facilitate cooperation between national and sub-national authorities for ecosystem management in urban regions. The major targets of the project are the city-regions that are home to globally recognised biodiversity hotspots and are facing urban development pressures.

In each country, one model city-region will be selected as main actor and recipient of support, while two observing cities/city-regions will take part mainly with their own resources, benefiting from capacity building and exchange opportunities with the model city-region and national government, as well as “light touch” implementation guidance.

The local and sub-national biodiversity strategy and action plans (BSAPs), developed through the project will help to provide a comprehensive and coordinated framework for mainstreaming biodiversity in municipal action and decision-making processes, even across sectors.

In India, discussions have been initiated with the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change with regard to the city region selection and overall implementation plan.