Bio-economy

This programme aims to identify and promote sustainable development pathways that are based on bio-resources, and are both economically viable and ecologically sustainable. The programme also seeks to guide the Mission in developing a unified national perspective to establish a vibrant biodiversity-based economy built on a solid foundation of reliable, scientific information.

“Sustainable development” and “sustainability” may be among the most used phrases across discourses, both mainstream and radical, on “development.” As in any conceptualisation, disciplinary frameworks and value judgments matter here as well. The goal of sustainable development is to meet the needs of the present generation, but in a way that it does not compromise the ability of future generations to use the same resources (World Commission on Environment and Development 1987). Indeed, the resources in question are natural resources, primarily ecological systems...

Economics of Climate Change
Nandan Nawn / Jindal School of Environment and Sustainability
2021
World Environment Day
Balancing Ecology and Economy: in light of water governance in India
Nandan Nawn / Asian Confluence 2020
2020
Balancing Ecology and Economy: In Light of Water Governance in India was organised by the Asian Confluence with Hanns Seidel Foundation on 15 October 2020.
Figure 1 of PNAS article
Contemporary losses of biodiversity, sometimes referred to as the sixth mass extinction, continue to mount. A recent assessment by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) estimates that…
Internalisation of unCertainties
Biodiversity losses lead to disruptions in climatic attributes. The resulting impacts — including those on economic systems — are gaining visibility across geographical spaces. ‘Extreme Weather’ events are its most dramatic form. It leads…
Highly populated tropical countries face tremendous pressures in reconciling the needs for improved economic security and the protection of declining biodiversity. India is no exception and its biodiversity is under severe pressure due to complex interactions among land use change, other human economic activities, and climate change. Preservation and restoration of biodiversity is perhaps the cheapest and least risky way to mitigate the impacts of threats such as climate change, diminishing food and nutritional security, declining economy, absence of affordable healthcare, rising zoonotic diseases and lack of capacity to address these issues. Here we describe a framework for biodiversity conservation – the National Mission on Biodiversity and Human Well-Being (NMBHWB) for India – which integrates biodiversity, ecosystem services, climate change, agriculture, health, bio-economy and…
Dr. Nandan Nawn delivered the lecture 'Economics of Ecological Restoration’ at the 5th Refresher Course in Environmental Studies, UGC-Human Resource…
Nandan Nawn
28 Sep 2021
Dr.
Nandan Nawn
29 Dec 2020
Dr. Nandan Nawn delivered a lecture entitled 'Biodiversity Driven Sustainable (Economic) Development’.
Nandan Nawn
22 May 2020

About Bio-economy

Human activities, such as resource extraction and pollution, can cause significant reductions in ecosystem resilience. Thus, reducing both pollution and extraction is important for maintaining ecosystem stability. One way to decrease pollution is through minimising the use of exhaustible resources and their substitution with renewable/biotic resources. Such substitutions can support sustainable livelihoods as well, provided the rate of extraction is lower than the rate of renewal or regeneration. This requirement holds for all economic activities using bio-resources. In short, sustainable use of bio-resources, either as a substitution of exhaustible resources or as an input to support new economic activities, can chart pathways for a bio-economy for India.

India has witnessed the formulation of many bio-economic 'models of development'. Community energy projects, agro-forestry systems and traditional organic farming are common examples. However, they often remain a local initiative or are not sustained because of planning challenges, sustainability-concerns, or unsustainable demand.

This programme will identify and promote sustainable development pathways that are based on bio-resources, and are both economically viable and ecologically sustainable. To this end, the programme will estimate ‘market value’ of sustainable flow of bio-resources and their value (over time) in biodiversity hotspots and other areas with significant biodiversity. It will further evaluate the cost of stabilising, augmenting and sustaining bio-resource flows in ecosystems faced with a rapid but recent decline in biodiversity and ecosystem services. Finally, the programme will assess the cost of restoring, stabilising, augmenting and sustaining ecosystems with a rich biodiversity history and/or potential Through the execution of this programme, India will take the lead in developing methodologies for protecting, utilizing and regenerating bio-resources, which are the indispensable foundations of a resilient “green” economy.