Tag Archives: Interact BIO

Biodiversity strategy and action plan for Kochi

The Kochi Corporation has prepared a local biodiversity strategy and action plan which sets 29 goals for the city to achieve on biodiversity conservation by 2025. The city is the first in the country to develop a ‘scientifically informed and participatory’ action plan, according to Mayor Soumini Jain’s message in the plan.

The plan was readied as part of the Integrated Subnational Action for Biodiversity (Interact-Bio) project being implemented in the city by the civic administration’s Centre for Heritage, Environment and Development (C-HED), which is collaborating with ICLEI-South Asia. The plan is meant to function as a tool that the local government can use to take action related to the conservation of biodiversity and climate resilience. It identifies nine focus areas including islands, lakes, agriculture, green and open spaces, inland waterbodies, marshes and mangroves, and seashore and sandbars. The 29 goals under these focus areas include mapping of agricultural land, identification of new cultivable land, conservation of paddy fields, transitioning to a low emission city and protecting green spaces.

Actions to be taken include setting up decentralised sewage treatment plants, developing a geo-referenced map of inland waterbodies, establishing a special purpose vehicle for management of the Vembanad Lake and sea-wall construction using eco-friendly methods like setting up mangrove nurseries.

Interact BIO – Stakeholders Consultation

As part of the German funded INTERACT- Bio project a Stakeholder Workshop was organised with support of Kochi Municipal Corporation and Centre for Heritage, Environment and Development, and facilitated by ICLEI- South Asia. The project aims to mainstream and integrate biodiversity conservation and management into the planning process at the national, subnational and local level. Funded by the German Federal Ministry for Environment Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety, the four year project will be conducted in three cities- Kochi, Mangaluru and Panaji in India.

The project supports several Aichi Biodiversity Targets developed in 2010 and Sustainable Development Goals of 2015 through the promotion of nature-based solutions demonstrating the effectiveness of nature-based city development and ultimately connecting city regions with one another- building capacity and raising awareness in these regions. A significant output of the project will be the development of a Local Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (LBSAP) for Kochi.

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