Centre launches 40 crore project to "green" Gram Panchayat Development Plans in Tamil Nadu and Meghalaya

Coinciding with National Panchayati Raj Day on 24 April 2026, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) and the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) launched a five-year national project 'Strengthening Institutional Capacities for Securing Biodiversity Conservation Commitments'. The 40 crore rupees (about 4.88 million US dollars) project is co-funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and implemented with UNDP support, running 2025-2030.

The project's core idea is to 'green' Gram Panchayat Development Plans (GPDPs) by integrating biodiversity priorities into local-government planning, and to empower Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) at the panchayat level, mandated under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002.

Two demonstration landscapes have been chosen. In Tamil Nadu, the Sathyamangalam landscape at the meeting of the Western and Eastern Ghats covers the Sathyamangalam and Mudumalai Tiger Reserves. In Meghalaya's Garo Hills, the project covers the Nokrek Biosphere Reserve, Balpakram National Park and Siju Wildlife Sanctuary, where Village Employment Councils will anchor community-led conservation. Innovative financing — Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS), CSR co-financing and green micro-enterprises — will be activated to reward conservation stewardship.

Exam angle: The Biological Diversity Act, 2002 is India's law giving effect to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). It creates a three-tier structure — NBA at the Centre, State Biodiversity Boards (SBBs), and Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) at panchayat level. NBA headquarters are at Chennai. Nokrek is one of UNESCO's biosphere reserves in India and a hotspot for the citrus wild-relative Citrus indica. Sathyamangalam was India's 50th Tiger Reserve.