An Activist Approach to Biodiversity Planning: A handbook of participatory tools used to prepare India’s National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan

Bringing in multiple perspectives, especially those that usually remain invisible, is a universal challenge to policy processes today. India has been one of the first countries to undertake a National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Planning (NBSAP) process under the requirements of the Convention on Biological Diversity - with the extra challenge of integrating opinions over a vast national scale. Based on interviews with over 190 people involved in (or, in some cases, excluded from) the NBSAP in four Indian states, An Activist Approach to Biodiversity Planning reviews the key successes and challenges in achieving a truly participatory process of policy planning. A range of successful tools are explained step-by-step to help practitioners adapt and design appropriate approaches for their own contexts internationally. Further advice comes from an overview of common lessons across the set of very different opportunities and constraints faced in different settings - ranging from well resourced to poorly supported, from urban to inaccessibly rural, and from reluctant to enthusiastic.