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The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change told the Lok Sabha that the Forest Survey of India has prepared a separate album of 45 major invasive species to help identify Invasive Alien Plant Species (IAPS) in the field.
According to FSI, invasive plants occur in Reserved Forest Areas at densities ranging from very dense through moderate-to-dense to scanty.
The Botanical Survey of India has prepared and submitted a comprehensive state-wise inventory of potential invasive species spreading across forest and non-forest areas to the National Biodiversity Authority, to enable preparation of a National Management Plan of Invasive Species.
Actual removal of invasive plants and planting of indigenous species in Reserved Forests is done by State Governments and UT Administrations under approved forest and wildlife management plans.
The National Working Plan Code, 2023 provides for ecosystem-based forest management including invasive species management, restoration of degraded landscapes and preference for site-specific native species.
An alien species is one introduced — deliberately or accidentally — outside its natural range. It becomes an invasive alien species only when it establishes, spreads and causes damage to native biodiversity, ecosystem services, livelihoods or human health. The distinction matters for the exam: not every exotic plant is invasive. The IPBES thematic assessment released in 2023 found that more than 37,000 alien species have been introduced worldwide by human activity, of which about 3,500 have become harmful invasive alien species, and that the global economic cost exceeded USD 423 billion a year in 2019, having at least quadrupled every decade since 1970. That report was produced by 86 experts from 49 countries.
Simple Analogy: An alien species is a guest who moves into the neighbourhood; an invasive alien species is the guest who takes over the house, eats the food and locks out the original residents.
Prepared the album of 45 major invasive species and reports their density in Reserved Forest Areas; carries out the biennial national forest cover assessment published as the India State of Forest Report
The national body for plant taxonomy, floristic survey, documentation and conservation; prepared the state-wise inventory of potential invasive species submitted to the NBA
Statutory autonomous body implementing the Biological Diversity Act, 2002; recipient of the BSI inventory and the body around which a National Management Plan of Invasive Species is being framed
Carry out actual removal of invasive plants and planting of indigenous species in Reserved Forests and other protected forest areas under approved forest and wildlife management plans
The parent law under which the National Biodiversity Authority was constituted in 2003; the three-tier structure is the NBA at the Centre, State Biodiversity Boards in States and Biodiversity Management Committees at the local level
Requires maintenance of environmental stability and restoration of ecological balance, and expansion of forest and tree cover through afforestation and regeneration using native/indigenous species
The technical code governing preparation of State forest working plans; provides for ecosystem-based forest management including invasive species management, restoration of degraded forest landscapes, soil and moisture conservation, watershed management and preference for site-specific indigenous species
The parent convention behind India's Biological Diversity Act; its Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, adopted in December 2022, sets Target 6 on invasive alien species
Both Lantana and Prosopis spread most aggressively into open dry grasslands and savannas — habitats historically classified as 'wasteland' in India and therefore targeted for plantation, which accelerated the invasion
Because invasives exclude palatable fodder grasses, their spread reduces prey density for large carnivores, linking the issue to tiger and lion reserve management
The National Working Plan Code, 2023 is the instrument through which invasive species management actually reaches the ground, because every State forest division's operations follow an approved working plan
GS Paper 3 > Environment > Biodiversity Conservation and Ecology
General Awareness > Environment and Ecology
Invasive species and the Biological Diversity Act institutions are recurring Prelims environment themes
Plant species introduced outside their natural range that establish, spread and cause harm to native biodiversity, ecosystems or livelihoods
The most strictly protected class of government forest under Indian forest law, in which all activities are prohibited unless specifically permitted — as distinct from Protected Forest, where activities are permitted unless prohibited
The statutory ten-year operational plan for a forest division, prepared under the National Working Plan Code, which now must include invasive species management
The plan being prepared with the National Biodiversity Authority using the state-wise inventory of potential invasive species submitted by the Botanical Survey of India