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Biodiversity—the fundamental basis of ecosystem structure and function—holds immense value for the life-supporting services it provides. In India, it sustains the livelihoods, cultures, and well-being of millions. Although the country occupies just 2.4% of the world’s land area, it harbors nearly 7–8% of all recorded species, owing to its unique position at the tri-junction of the Afrotropical, Indo-Malayan, and Palearctic biogeographic realms.

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However, this rich natural heritage is increasingly under threat from climate change, deforestation and habitat fragmentation, over-exploitation of resources, invasive species, and escalating pollution. These pressures have eroded ecosystem resilience and compromised the capacity of natural systems to recover from disturbances—posing serious implications for environmental stability and human survival.

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With these warning signals growing ever more urgent, the 9th India Biodiversity Meet (IBM) aims to bring these critical challenges—biodiversity loss, food security, and climate change—to the forefront of discussion. IBM-2026 will offer a vital platform for scientists, conservationists, and practitioners to share research insights, exchange innovative ideas, and collaboratively explore pathways toward safeguarding biodiversity and strengthening ecosystem sustainability for the future.

Major themes

  • Biodiversity and Ecosystems

  • Mathematical Ecology & Epidemiology

  • Sustainable Agriculture

  • Climate Impact Assessment

  • Business-Biodiversity Links

  • Nanotechnology and Its Application in Biological Sciences

  • Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

  • Natural Product Chemistry

  • Diversity in Biomedical Genomics: Uncovering Variation that Shapes Health

Biodiversity and Ecosystems

The relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning has emerged as one of the central issues in environmental research during the last decade. Because ecosystems collectively regulate the Earth system, the potential ecological consequences of biodiversity loss have aroused considerable interest. Loss and fragmentation of natural habitats, overexploitation of plant and animal species, the impact of invasive alien species, and climate change create havoc on global biodiversity. IBM-2026 will attempt to understand patterns of biodiversity change in the light of the following:

  • Causes and consequences of Biodiversity loss (observational, experimental, and theoretical studies)

  • Biodiversity conservation

  • Community ecology

  • Chemical ecology

  • Spatiotemporal aspects of biodiversity patterns

  • Citizen Science

Mathematical Ecology and Epidemiology

Ecology has entered a phase of development where the subject is approached by quantitative reasoning. This may occur through application of statistical models to theoretical questions in ecology, or it may be achieved through sophisticated use of statistical techniques for experimental design and hypothesis testing. At the end of the day, a fusion of these approaches is expected to comprehend the ecological theories and to answer the fundamental questions of this domain. The 9th IBM-2026 will thrive to showcase the state of art of these quantitative methods in the following arenas:

  • Mathematical/Statistical modelling on species sustainability

  • Epidemiological modelling of communicable disease

  • Statistical Methods in Evolutionary Genetics

  • Population demography and statistics

  • Spatial Data Handling (Remote sensing and GIS)

  • Species Distribution Modelling (SDM)

  • Survival analysis

  • Resource System Analysis

  • Wildlife Biometrics and Population Analysis

  • Mathematical modelling of biological system

  • Population Genetics

  • Bioinformatics

Sustainable Agriculture

Sustainable food production has never been more important - with the world population ever increasing, the environmental pressures on our planet have never been greater. The concept of sustainable agriculture embraces a wide range of techniques, including organic, free-range, low-input, holistic, and biodynamic crop production. Like previous years, IBM-2026 is focusing on recent developments towards sustainable agriculture practices in these sectors:

  • Agronomy and plant breeding

  • Biotechnology

  • Soil plant relationships

  • Plant and Environmental Health

  • Horticultural science

  • Livestock and Poultry Science

  • Land Use & Management

  • Agricultural Microbiology & Gene Technology

  • Agribusiness Sales and Applied Market Research

  • Environmental Monitoring and Assessment

  • Natural resource management

Climate Impact Assessment

Research on climate impacts has grown considerably in the past 5 years regarding the potential risk of damage associated with projected climate change and the vulnerabilities to climate change of a wide range of ecological systems. One of the major themes of IBM-2026 is to assess the sensitivity, adaptive capacity, and vulnerability of natural and human systems to climate change, and the potential consequences of climate change on:

  • Changes in land use and land cover 

  • Terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems

  • Coastal Zones, groundwater, and marine Ecosystems

  • Human health

Business - Biodiversity Links

We live in an age where the importance of environmental and sustainability issues are more realized than ever before, but we are also faced with financial crisis and economic uncertainty. The Aichi target 4 highlights-“”. Though environmental and economic issues may appear to be very different and at odds with each other, they are actually deeply intertwined. In a logistic framework, a huge business opportunity lies in the collaboration of sustainability and the protection of biodiversity. There are many things that companies can do, and are doing, to creating a beneficial impact to the environment and to their bottom. This year, IBM is providing a platform, for the first time, to discuss the ideas and the following:

  • Biodiversity policy and law

  • Developing incentives, regulations and guidelines to encourage business development in sustainable production and consumption

  • Case studies of businesses taking actions

Nanotechnology and Its Application in Biological Sciences

Nanotechnology has a transformative role in different aspects of life sciences, enabling precise manipulation at the nanoscale for improved agricultural and environmental applications, diagnostics, targeted drug delivery, tissue engineering, etc. It enhances disease detection, treatment efficiency, agricultural productivity, and sustainability, making it a key technology for advancing healthcare, biotechnology, and environmental management. IBM 2026 will place a special emphasis on emerging frontiers in nanotechnology with broad implications for the biological sciences. The conference will highlight advances and applications in the following key areas:​

  • Green synthesis and its applications

  • Role of nanotechnology in agriculture and environment

  • Nanomedicine and drug delivery

  • Nanotechnology in molecular biology

​Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

Applied microbiology and biotechnology is a multidisciplinary field that harnesses microorganisms and their biological activities for practical use across industry, agriculture, healthcare, and environmental management. It focuses on investigating, engineering, and optimizing bacteria, fungi, viruses, and algae to generate valuable products or carry out beneficial processes.

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Microbial biotechnology supports the production of antibiotics, vaccines, enzymes, biofuels, fermented foods, probiotics, and various industrial compounds. In agriculture, biofertilizers, microbial inoculants, and biopesticides improve soil health, boost crop productivity, and promote sustainable farming. Environmental uses include wastewater treatment, pollutant degradation, and conversion of waste into energy. In medicine, microbes play key roles in diagnostics, therapeutic production, and recombinant DNA technologies.

Natural Product Chemistry

Natural product chemistry focuses on chemical compounds derived from living organisms, including plants, animals, and microorganisms. It encompasses the isolation, purification, structural characterization, and synthesis of these substances to better understand their biological roles and explore potential applications. These natural products often possess diverse and complex molecular structures shaped by evolutionary processes. They play essential ecological roles, including defense, signaling, and competition.

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Natural products remain a vital source of pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, nutraceuticals, fragrances, and biomaterials. Many notable therapeutic agents, such as penicillin, paclitaxel, artemisinin, and aspirin, originated from natural sources. Owing to their biological significance and structural uniqueness, natural products remain a powerful driving force in drug discovery and chemical research.

Diversity in Biomedical Genomics: Uncovering Variation that Shapes Health

This session will highlight the crucial role of genetic, molecular, and population-level diversity in shaping human health and disease. It brings together insights from genomic variation, multi-omics research and population genetics to better understand the complexity of biomedical traits and to advance precision medicine.

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