New National Expert Committee to Shape India’s Response to Invasive Alien Species

India has taken a significant step in addressing one of the quieter but deeply damaging threats to its environment. The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) has constituted a new Expert Committee on Invasive Alien Species, following directions from the National Green Tribunal, to examine the growing ecological and socio-economic risks posed by non-native species that spread aggressively and disrupt local ecosystems. The announcement was made by the Press Information Bureau on March 21, 2026.

The move comes after the National Green Tribunal, in a suo motu matter numbered O.A. No. 162/2023, flagged invasive alien species as a serious threat to India’s native biodiversity, agriculture, food security, public health, and wildlife health. Acting on that concern, and backed by advisory input from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, the NBA has now brought together a multi-disciplinary body to create a more coordinated national response.

At first glance, invasive alien species may sound like a technical issue meant only for scientists and conservation officials. But in reality, the problem is far more immediate. These are plants, animals, fungi or other organisms introduced outside their natural range that begin to spread in ways that harm native biodiversity, local habitats, farming systems, and sometimes even human health. The Convention on Biological Diversity describes invasive alien species as alien species whose introduction or spread threatens biological diversity, while also noting that such species can alter ecosystems, compete with native species, introduce pathogens, and reduce ecosystem services.

That broader global understanding helps explain why India’s new committee matters. According to the PIB release, the committee has been tasked with preparing a consolidated national list of invasive alien species based on inputs from states, identifying and prioritising high-risk species, and recommending science-based management, restoration measures, and national guidelines for prevention, control, and eradication. It will also document best practices, identify major knowledge gaps, and suggest research and data-generation programmes for long-term policy action. In other words, this is not just an advisory panel on paper; it is expected to help build the country’s knowledge base and future strategy on a problem that cuts across forests, farms, rivers, wetlands, and coastlines.

The committee has been deliberately designed as a broad-based expert platform rather than a narrowly bureaucratic exercise. It is chaired by Shri Dhananjai Mohan, IFS (Retd.), former PCCF and Head of Forest Force, Uttarakhand, with Prof. (Dr.) A. Biju Kumar, Vice Chancellor of Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies, serving as Co-Chair. Its membership includes representatives from the Zoological Survey of India, Botanical Survey of India, ICAR research bureaus dealing with plant, fish and insect genetic resources, the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education, the Wildlife Institute of India, the Forest Survey of India, and forest departments from Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Maharashtra, and Assam, along with international and academic experts including IUCN-linked expertise.

What makes this development especially important is that invasive alien species are no longer seen globally as a secondary conservation issue. Under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, Target 6 specifically calls on countries to reduce the introduction and establishment of invasive alien species by at least 50 percent by 2030, and to control or eradicate priority invasive species, especially in sensitive sites. The Convention on Biological Diversity also identifies invasive alien species as one of the major direct drivers of biodiversity loss worldwide. India’s decision to establish this committee therefore aligns not only with domestic environmental concerns, but also with its international biodiversity commitments.

The committee will function for two years, and its real test will lie in whether it can help turn fragmented concern into a credible national framework. India has long dealt with invasive threats in different forms, whether in forests, farmlands, freshwater ecosystems, or marine spaces, but responses have often remained sector-specific and uneven. A state-wise consolidated list, risk prioritisation, and a common science-led management framework could help create the kind of early-warning and rapid-response system that has so far been missing.

In many ways, this is one of those policy decisions whose importance may not be obvious in a single headline, but could prove crucial over time. Invasive alien species do not merely replace one plant with another or introduce one unfamiliar animal into a landscape. They can weaken ecological resilience, disrupt native food webs, reduce agricultural productivity, and make restoration efforts more difficult and expensive. By creating a dedicated expert committee now, India is signalling that biodiversity protection can no longer be limited to saving species in isolation; it must also mean defending entire ecosystems from slow-moving but deeply destabilising threats.

Refefences :

Press Information Bureau, Government of India, “National Biodiversity Authority constitutes Expert Committee on Invasive Alien Species,” posted March 21, 2026.
Convention on Biological Diversity, “What are Invasive Alien Species?”
Convention on Biological Diversity, “Target 6” under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
Convention on Biological Diversity, “Invasive Alien Species.”
Global Invasive Species Programme, “India’s Actions on IAS.”
IUCN, “Invasive Alien Species.”