the Union ministry of environment and forests (moef) has done a double take on its commitments and stalled the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (nbsap). The nbsap is a national obligation under the un Convention on Biological Diversity. It is a multi-stakeholder plan being worked upon since 1999 as a government project sponsored by the undp, coordinated by Kalpvriksh, a non-governmental organisation, and administered by Biotech Consortium India Ltd (bcil).

nbsap's broad purpose was to produce an action plan to ensure the conservation of India's biodiversity and sustainable use of its biological resources. The process, now into its fifth year, should have been completed by the end of 2003, its report published and its second phase of pilot implementation in place. The plan for the us $993,000 project was worked upon with the participation of more than 50,000 people.

The moef backtracked on the process in January 2004. It indicated that the final draft of nbsap's National Action Plan could only be considered a technical report and would have to be ratified by a Union cabinet committee to qualify as a