Overview

In the light of CBD and our commitment to the 2020 framework, the role of youth in reaching the 2030 biodiversity targets and aspiring 2050 vision for living in harmony with nature, will be even more relevant. Diverse initiatives by various civil society organizations, government agencies and also international organizations on biodiversity restoration and strengthening resilience across the various Indian states have provided rich experience and insights. It is now time to build on these to engage wider audiences in these efforts. 

To go beyond and reach out to the youth through popular mediums, this campaign has also developed a Biodiversity Anthem created by Grammy Award Winner – Ricky Kej. This Anthem and its video will be used extensively to inspire wider audiences, specially youth to take action for Biodiversity restoration and conservation.

Indian Youth Biodiversity Network (IYBN) is an official national chapter of Global Youth Biodiversity Network (GYBN) which is the official youth organization under the constituency of Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). It consists of a group of young inspiring people who aim to create a positive impact at National and Sub-National levels. This is a network of individuals with a common goal to address various biodiversity issues and prevent the loss of biodiversity. 

The GYBN Indian chapter was established in 2018, during the GYBN Asia level workshop in Hyderabad sponsored by the CBD. Its vision is to rebuild harmony between people and nature for a sustainable and equitable India. Presently, the Indian chapter has four active state chapters in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and representatives from other organizations as well. These members represents from diverse backgrounds of researchers activities, farming, education, conservation, celebrities, indigenous youth and from other sectors as well, who are quite active at grassroots level work and as well as interested in policymaking. 

Since January 2021, IYBN has organized more than 30 virtual consultation session including the IYBN Virtual Biodiversity Forum conducted in May, 2021. The consultation process included discussions on major sectors as a start to address the issues of biodiversity conservation in India. 

The topics of discussion were Education, Economy, Protected Areas, Wildlife management, Marine and freshwater conservation, Community conservation, Rights of Nature, Digital Sequence Information, Nagoya Protocol and Traditional knowledge. Valuable opinions and perspectives of Indian youth were collected, to draft a National Youth Manifesto and Indian Youth Position paper.