National Biodiversity Authority (NBA): India’s Apex Body for Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Use

NBA's Expert Committee on Invasive Alien Species: Confronting a $127 Billion Ecological Threat

The National Biodiversity Authority has constituted an Expert Committee on Invasive Alien Species to address the growing ecological and socio-economic risks posed by such species across the country. The decision follows a suo motu proceeding by the National Green Tribunal, registered as O.A. No. 162/2023, which underscored the serious threats invasive alien species pose to native biodiversity, key ecosystems, agriculture, food security, and human and wildlife health, and directed the NBA to undertake a comprehensive study, a directive further reinforced by an advisory from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change to establish a dedicated expert body.

"In exercise of its powers under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, as amended in 2023, the NBA has constituted a multi-disciplinary committee to provide strategic guidance on the issue."

The Committee will be chaired by Dhananjai Mohan, former Head of Forest Force, Uttarakhand, with Professor A. Biju Kumar serving as co-chair, and its composition draws on representatives from leading research institutions, government bodies, and state forest departments spanning ecology, forestry, agriculture, fisheries, marine sciences, and biodiversity conservation. The Committee has been mandated to prepare a consolidated national list of invasive alien species based on state-wise inputs, identify and prioritise high-risk species, and recommend science-based management strategies, ecological restoration measures, and national-level guidelines for their prevention, control, and eradication, while also documenting best practices and identifying critical knowledge gaps requiring further research. The Committee, which held its first meeting on 12 February 2026 to reiterate these terms of reference, is expected to function for a period of two years, and in March 2026, the NBA formally sought this two-year timeline from the NGT to ensure a legally and scientifically sound final report, citing an ongoing case involving the threat posed by invasive species such as water hyacinth, Salvinia molesta, and the newly spreading Cabomba furcuta to Kerala's Ramsar-designated Kole wetlands.

The Scale of the Threat

The urgency behind this initiative is underscored by the scale of ecological damage already documented in India. Invasive alien species such as Lantana camara, Prosopis juliflora, and water hyacinth have caused mass degradation of native ecosystems, affecting an estimated 60 percent of the country's natural habitat, while alien species are recognised globally as primary drivers of species extinction, contributing to roughly 60 percent of such extinctions worldwide.

"Just 10 out of the 330 known invasive species in India have cost the national economy an estimated $127.3 billion over the last 60 years, making India the second most invasion-cost-bearing country in the world."

This economic dimension, alongside the ecological one, reflects why the Committee's mandate explicitly frames invasive species as posing both ecological and socio-economic risks, recognising that their damage extends well beyond conservation concerns into agriculture, food security, and public health.

Legal Backing: The 2022 Amendment

The Committee's constitution draws on a specific legislative foundation strengthened in recent years. The 2022 amendment to the Wildlife Protection framework inserted Section 62A, empowering the Central Government to regulate or prohibit the import, trade, possession, or proliferation of invasive alien species that pose a threat to wild animals or their habitats, while Section 13 of the Biological Diversity Act separately mandates the NBA to advise the Central Government on the prevention and control of invasive species to protect local biodiversity, the specific statutory basis under which this Expert Committee has now been formed.

About the National Biodiversity Authority

The institution steering this initiative is an autonomous, statutory body established under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, and functioning under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. The NBA performs facilitative, regulatory, and advisory functions for the Government of India, particularly concerning the conservation of biodiversity, sustainable use of biological resources, and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits derived from them.

"The NBA regulates activities and issues guidelines for access to biological resources and for fair and equitable sharing of benefits."

Its advisory role includes recommending policies, strategies, and action plans to central and state governments, along with guiding states on identifying areas of biodiversity importance for notification as heritage sites. Its regulatory functions require foreign individuals or corporate bodies seeking biological resources or associated traditional knowledge for research or commercial use to obtain prior NBA approval, with the Authority determining benefit-sharing terms, while Indian citizens and companies seek such permissions from their respective State Biodiversity Boards. Prior NBA approval is also mandatory before applying for any intellectual property right based on an Indian biological resource or associated traditional knowledge. Beyond regulation, the NBA facilitates conservation on the ground by supporting State Biodiversity Boards and Biodiversity Management Committees, organising awareness and training programmes, and working to ensure benefits from bio-resources reach the local communities that have traditionally conserved them, within a three-tier structure spanning the national, state, and local body levels.

Significance and the Way Forward

The constitution of this Expert Committee carries significance as a structured, science-driven response to a threat that has, until now, lacked a coordinated national management framework despite its documented multi-billion-dollar economic toll and its role in widespread habitat degradation across India. By bringing together expertise spanning forestry, agriculture, marine science, and biodiversity conservation, the Committee's whole-of-government approach reflects growing recognition that invasive species management cannot be addressed through siloed, sector-specific interventions alone. This effort also carries international relevance, as it is expected to support India's commitments under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which explicitly targets the reduction of invasive species introduction and establishment rates.

The Committee's two-year timeline, and its stated intent to prioritise legal and scientific rigour over speed, suggest a deliberate approach given the complexity of compiling a genuinely comprehensive national inventory across diverse ecosystems and states. The way forward will depend on effective coordination with state governments to gather reliable state-wise data, and on translating the Committee's eventual guidelines into enforceable, well-resourced action at the ground level, particularly in ecologically sensitive and already-affected sites such as the Kole wetlands in Kerala.

Conclusion

The NBA's Expert Committee on Invasive Alien Species represents a significant institutional step toward addressing one of India's most economically costly yet historically under-coordinated ecological threats. As the Committee works over the next two years to build a national inventory and science-based management framework, its success will be measured by how effectively India moves from documenting the scale of invasive species damage toward implementing consistent, nationwide strategies for their prevention, control, and eradication.