MoEFCC and the National Biodiversity Authority have launched a five-year project to strengthen biodiversity governance at the grassroots level, focusing on Tamil Nadu and Meghalaya. The initiative aims to reinforce Biodiversity Management Committees at the local level, improve People's Biodiversity Registers, and align community-level conservation with India's commitments under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. The project reflects India's push to operationalise the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 at the panchayat and local body level.

The Biological Diversity Act, 2002 created a three-tier governance structure: the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) at the national level, State Biodiversity Boards (SBBs) at the state level, and Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) at the local body level. BMCs are mandated to prepare People's Biodiversity Registers (PBRs) — living documents that catalogue local biological resources, traditional knowledge, and land use practices.

Despite being legally mandated, BMC functioning has been uneven across states. This five-year project directly addresses that implementation gap by strengthening BMCs in Tamil Nadu and Meghalaya — two ecologically significant states. Tamil Nadu falls within the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot, while Meghalaya lies within the Indo-Burma hotspot, both among the 36 global biodiversity hotspots identified by Norman Myers.

The project also connects to India's obligations under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and specifically the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), adopted at COP15 in December 2022. The GBF's Target 3 — the '30x30' goal of protecting 30% of land and ocean by 2030 — requires robust local-level data and governance, precisely what PBRs and BMCs are designed to supply.

For exam purposes, the key institutional chain is: CBD → Biological Diversity Act 2002 → NBA → SBBs → BMCs → PBRs. The nodal ministry is MoEFCC. NBA is headquartered in Chennai.